Today’s pick is the excellent 1996 studio album from The Scud Mountain Boys called Massachusetts.
The Scud Mountain Boys were formed by Joe Pernice (who later went on to greater indie-rock fame as part of The Pernice Brothers and a bunch of consistently great solo albums). Obviously, they are from the great state of Massachusetts and the songs on this album are set in that area.
Massachusetts is where Joe’s songwriting really came into focus. The earlier albums,Pine Box and Dance The Night Away, had their moments but this is where it all came into focus as a front-to-back masterpiece.
Extremely detailed lyrics describing heartbroken, downtrodden characters….with an excellent backing band providing the perfect mood.
I’ve been re-obsessing over this record this week and it still holds up the same as it did since the first time I heard it almost 25 years ago.