As much as it pains me to say it, MTV had a good idea. Â It was back in the 90’s and someone there decided it would be unique to hear a rock band playing acoustic and unplugged. Â And very quickly, the better bands discovered they could turn that opportunity into a new sound; something that was them, but not them. Â Pretty soon though, MTV booked all the better bands, and Unplugged slid into parody, witness Todd Snider and, “we went on MTV Unplugged and refused to play acoustic versions of the songs we refused to play in the first place.”
The Bottle Rockets have resuscitated that idea in all its glory with Not So Loud: An Acoustic Evening With the Bottle Rockets. Â It’s a glorious romp through a representative sampling of Bottle Rockets material, but in a style that any casual fan would never guess was the original artist. Â Check out fellow Twangville author, Mayer’s take on the disc as his Album of the Month.
The album starts with Early In the Morning, a testament to life as a night person, and its wailing about “er-leee in the morning”. Â From there the show goes to Gravity Fails, a classic Bottle Rockets composition, and then Lucky Break, a fabulous commentary on what it’s like to finally, just, at last, not be driven by the goals of everyone else. Â Next comes Perfect Far Away. Â It’s at once a perfect example of the wry observations of primary singer-songwriter Brian Henneman and a performance that shows why the acoustic parameters of the show let the band do something different. Â (And Brian, if you’re reading, we should talk about what it’s like to spend all day in the broiling sun at the Veiled Prophet Fair and have someone standing in front of you.)
I could go on about how the unplugged versions of Bottle Rockets classics are different from the originals.  But the highlights for me were Turn For the Worse and 1000 Dollar Car.  Turn For the Worse has Henneman and his mates sounding as much like the Avett Brothers as the Wilco and Son Volt peers to whom they are usually compared.  And 1000 Dollar Car is probably the best song ever written about why a bargain may just be too good to be true.
The Bottle Rockets grew up in the same geography with many of the same influences as alt-country pioneers Uncle Tupelo. Â But with just a slightly different, more rock oriented, style, they ended up with cult status more than mainstream acceptance. Â Not So Loud is a testament to why that was as much circumstance as it was any statement about musicianship or creativity, and a good album to get introduced to the Bottle Rockets if you’re not already a fan.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.