ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Lean Forward, by The Bottle Rockets Now that summer has finally arrived, it’s a good time to pick out the summer albums. It starts with the latest from the pride of Festus, Missouri, The Bottle Rockets. Lead songwriter Brian Henneman is a pop songwriter masquerading as an alt-country musician. And summer […]
The Bottle Rockets – Lean Forward
Hailing from the St. Louis area, The Bottle Rockets show some of the same influences that inspired Uncle Tupelo and their progeny. In Lean Forward , their tenth release, the Rockets have a record that’s a rich bouquet of rock and roll, but nonetheless retaining some twangy alt country aromas. What distinguishes many of the […]
Happy Anniversary to the Bottle Rockets
The first time that I heard the Bottle Rockets was in an Atlanta recording studio. It was one of the intimate in-studio performances that had about 15 of us sitting on the floor while the band played a brief stripped-down set. Drummer Mark Ortmann played a guitar case. The song that stood out for me […]

