Greg Graffin — Cold As The Clay

Best known for politicking and agitating with SoCal punk stalwarts Bad Religion, vocalist Greg Graffin has unplugged his guitar, hired The Weakerthans as his backing band and recorded a roots and country album. Cold As The Clay is a hodgepodge of Graffin's original compositions and his interpretations of traditional banjo and guitar standards. He contorts his usual overtly political lyrical approach into the intimate logic of a grizzled storyteller. But on this rough and ragged record, many of the originals come off as pretty direct facsimiles of an already well explored roots sound. Graffin does, however, acquit himself admirably while covering the classics, exercising seldom-used muscles to create a solid — if unspectacular — tribute to the sounds of the American heartland.

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