Scorpion
Undertow
2012
Rating: 6.5 freeway dividers out of 10
Will Johnson apparently likes to keep busy. He has Centro-matic, presumably his main band; South San Gabriel, an offshoot that I always assumed was his solo work; but then he also records under his own name. And that's not to mention all the other various side projects he's involved in like Monsters of Folk and writing/recording with Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers. How he decides what songs go to which bands is beyond me, but it seems more than reasonable to call him the Robert Pollard of the alt-country/folk rock world.
"Scorpion" is a nice, pleasant (and possibly depressing depending on your mood) folk record. It's mostly just Johnson, his guitar and his signature gravelly voice, with the occasional bit of drums or organ or whatnot added in for color. It's not nearly as exciting as the fantastic Centro-matic record from last year, "Candidate Waltz," though it's still worth a listen if you're in the mood for some rainy day music. Hell, it might even sound good on a bright sunny day.
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