Greg Graffin
“Cold as the Clay”
Anti

Released rather quietly in 1997, Greg Graffin’s first solo record, “American Lesion” featured raw folk and piano ballads loaded with misery and depression. He chose the moniker American Lesion to keep fans of his full-time band, Bad Religion, from crying sell-out, and with the exception of a few hush-hush shows at Knitting Factories on both coasts, the album was not reproduced live.

Graffin pulled a 180 with his second solo record, “Cold as the Clay.” Hyped as a full-on Americana record, Graffin grabbed the Weakerthans and a few other friends and penned a full-length album in a week. This time, the sorrow has been replace with fun and a sense of hope. Sure, songs like “Don’t be Afraid to Run” recall Bruce Springsteen’s “The River” and sound just as haunting, but most of the tunes on here are traditional folk ditties featuring (for better or worse) tons of banjo. Jolie Holland lends her voice on “One More Hill,” which is quite a change of pace from his usual oohs and ahs two-part harmonies.

Where “American Lesion” actually sounded like demos of future Bad Religion tracks (he even included a piano version of “Cease”), “Clay” is hard to confuse with anything from the band that brought us “Fuck Armageddon this is Hell.” It’s pretty easy to imagine Graffin sitting on a porch with acres of land around him plucking out these tunes to his grandkids. Scary thought, huh?

Doesn’t Rock l Kinda Rocks l Rocks l Really Rocks