I really like the chords that the Old Barstools use to create their appealing blend of country and rock ’n’ roll. You might think you’ve heard these songs before until a creative change sends a tune off into a different direction than you might have expected.

The new album includes 11 songs, all but four of which were written by Fred Peer. Lead guitarist Sean Arrillaga contributes two songs and multi-stringed instrumentalist TJ Sutton wrote one of the straight-up rockers on the album, “Scraping By.” The lone cover is Modern English’s “I Melt With You.”
While many of the songs mine standard country tropes like regret, drinking and struggle, the band’s music is definitely country-rock with the emphasis on rock. With three guitars deployed in ingenious ways, they create a wall of sound. The rhythm section of bassist Nathan Gurley and drummer Floyd Durand makes a formidable team.

Peer writes witty, self-deprecating lyrics that hide a philosopher’s heart. “Soul To Sell” cracked me up although I could do without the old-school telephone ringing at the outset. The lyrics fly by like a spoken word poem.

After a brutally frank conversation with his girlfriend where she accuses him of wasting his soul, his first thought is, “If you know somebody looking for a soul, I could use the money.” The singsong, call-and-response chorus, “If you gotta little money, I got a soul to sell” is the perfectly wrong conclusion. Of course, she’s already accused him of being a deviant.

The music on the album sounds fun, but the lyrics hide little truths that only come from living a life filled with ups and downs. Yet, the songs are ultimately optimistic—just keep on keeping on and keep on keeping on and on and on.