Leeroy Stagger shows more maturity as a songwriter on his latest CD,‘Little Victories,’ to be released in Canada, Feb. 5.
Throughout the CD he sounds road wearied — an articulate observer of the quirks and quandaries he’s seen driving
the long, twisted and sometimes lonely road of life.
On the first track, he plaintively sings ‘Everyone’s on Drugs,’ but shows his range on this CD from softer, more tender, introspective observations like ‘Long Way Home,’ to uptempo rockers.
There are some incredibly catchy numbers on the is CD as well as Stagger’s earnest vocals and gritty storytelling.
‘Sit Around the House,’ has some slide guitar, a catchy melody and a lilting rhythm accompanied by descriptive stream of consciousness lyrics which make it immediately awesome and addictive.
‘Waste of A Wedding’ is another upbeat rocker that stands out on the CD, with a solid beat and big guitar sound. It is followed a by a weirder, sadder, piano powered number on ’Poor Little Rock Star.’ which is one of a couple songs, including ‘Good Times,’ where he sounds surprisingly like John Lennon.
‘George’s Blues’ is one of several tragic tales like the exceptional and more Steve Earle tinged, uptempo, though no less tragic ‘Hard Town,’ and ‘Long Way to The Bottom,’ which is made all the more moving by mournful steel guitar.
And Stagger even does a bit of acoustic blues on ‘Holy Water,” with a dark, detuned acoustic rhythm and distorted vocals which stands out from the rest of the CD which is more country/folk and even pop sounding.
While a lot of the subject matter is kind of sad, there is a sense of optimism which grows near the end of the CD with ‘She Will Be Received.’
The optimism reaches its apex with the upbeat Todd Sniderish ‘ I Believe in Love,’ which is among my favourites on the CD.
He ends ‘Little Victories’ on a sad, John Lennonish piano song ‘Love Will Let You Down.’
CD: Little Victories
Artist: Leeroy Stagger
Genre: country/folk/rock
Record Label: Indie Rebel Tone Records
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