Our own Alex V. Cook recently interviewed Wilco frontman, alt-country pioneer and Raker hero Jeff Tweedy at the Manship Theatre here in Baton Rouge. Jeff was in town to talk about his excellent book "How to Write One Song." Who knew that California Stars was about a quilt pattern? What an incredible night.
Now in their tenth year, the band digs into the heartache and triumphant stories that always populate their songs, recorded in their own studio and produced by the band's singer/multi-instrumentalist Alex V. Cook. This is rock music, guitars upfront and accounted for, fleshed out by organ, pedal steel, and even a foghorn (guitarist Leon Lejeune had one.) Founder Lance Porter has written some of the strongest material of his career. Bassist/in-house luthier Lewis Roussel debuts his first tune with the band, one so good they titled the album from it. Relative newcomer Sam Anselmo (Palomino Darling, Reception is Suspected, producer of the Rakers' NUMBER FIVE) jumped on the drums to give their fanfares for the common loser a whole new energy.
“The sixth album from the Baton Rouge, LA-based The Rakers is a rambling mix of Americana rock that lurches and stumbles from booth to table top in a local dive bar telling tales and regaling the clientele with off-center poetry as The Morality of Heart Transplants delivers the group's nine songs; if that sounds fun, wooly, odd, and a touch off-putting, that is the point.” - Rock the Body Electric