I first heard about Glossary early this year, which sorta bums me out, since they’ve been kicking about the underground rock scene for nearly 10 years…but whatever. One of my favorite bands, Grand Champeen had been touring with them. Now, Champeen are a great, great live band; there are a lot of folks who’ll tell you Grand Champeen shows nowadays come as close to matching the glorious abandon of early '80’s Replacements shows as anything you’ll see. So, when the guys in Champeen tell you that the group they’re touring with, Glossary, is even better than them…well, that’s some kinda peer recommendation.
Glossary’s 2006 disc “For What I Don’t Become” makes me want to go back and re-write my entire list from that year, because it belongs in the #2 slot. On first listen, these Murfreesboro, TN folks come off as all twang and drawl…but then lines like “Outside the street lights scrape into the sky/
And lean like skeletons trying to hold up the night” jump out at you. If Uncle Tupelo was what you’d get if Woody Guthrie had lived through the punk era, then Glossary is what you’d get if Walt Whitman had managed a similar feat.
Ok. That’s a little heavy on hyperbole I suppose. A band like Glossary is why I love rock and roll and always will. They aren’t making music to get rich, they’re making music because these songs have welled up inside them and burst out in a gusher of creativity. As if to prove it, they’ve made their new record available free from their website (see above). No email addresses, no strings attached. Grab it, listen to it, and if you like it, share it with someone else. The band’s download page has it in .AAC and .mp3 formats, available by individual songs and by .zip files for the whole thing. If you want to dip your toe in, I suggest trying the songs “Shout It From The Rooftops” for the rawk, and “Gasoline Soaked Heart” for twangy, beautiful, cryin’ in your beer melodrama.