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Album reviews Music

Leeroy Stagger

Rating: NN


Leeroy Stagger quit booze before recording this, his fifth, album, and now he sings about boozing on nearly every song. According to his lyrics, the Victoria rocker (now based in Lethbridge) stays up half the night drinking and singing, recalls days in Memphis when he was too drunk to care, medicates his mind, etc. And, oh yes, the highway calls his name and he was born to run. The clichés are too much.

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The music borrows heavily from Tom Petty, Wilco and Steve Earle. In fact, Stagger’s delivery, tone and pronunciation (“skeered” for “scared”) are pretty much Earle replicas. Most of the songs sail by in a cozy, familiar yet unmemorable way. Three in the last half, though, are gems. Banjo-driven Stormy has a great, laid-back hippie vibe, while ballsy rocker Everything Is Real and moving Another Friday Night infuse the album with real oomph.

Top track: Stormy

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