Nite Owls

One of the joys of any JD McPherson album is discovering how he manages to further transform his ever-churning blend of vintage-inspired influences. 2024s Nite Owls is no expectation and finds the Oklahoma-bred singer and songwriter conjuring a cooly philosophical, tube-amp-textured sound that blends twangy surf rock and baritone guitar atmospherics with buzzy, 70s glitter rock. The album, which is his fifth and follows 2018s holiday-themed Socks, arrives on the heels of a fertile period, one that found him touring alongside icons like Nick Lowe as well as Robert Plant and Alison Krauss and even serving as the latters lead guitarist while on the road. On Nite Owls, he manages to pull all of these varied experiences and influences together in a cohesive way thats unmistakably his own. McPherson produced the album himself, largely recording in Chicago with longtime drummer/multi-instrumentalist and engineer Alex Hall. They are joined by the rest of his regular touring ensemble, including guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Doug Corcoran, bassist Beau Sample, and keyboardist Chad Copelin. Also supplying potent backing vocals on three tracks is maverick Canadian rocker Bloodshot Bill. Together, they dig into McPhersons songs, crafting tactile, analog arrangements full of wiry, overdriven electric guitar riffs, ringing Farfisa organ accents, and drum and bass rhythms that rumble like a wide-open hot rod engine. Theres a strong garage rock-meets-glitter rock vibe running through the album, as on the opening "Sunshine Getaway," a slippery T. Rex-style groover that somehow manages to simultaneously illuminate the rockabilly influence that initially inspired Marc Bolan, while also sounding totally fresh. The song also lays out McPhersons emotional state of mind as someone stuck, both physically and metaphorically, in the middle of the U.S.A. and who yearns for a sunnier, brighter tomorrow. He sings, "If I wouldve left town, I mightvе gone somewhere" and later implores his neighbor to, "Drag me out of the state Im in/I need a tropical breeze over sun-kissed skin." Its a lyrically wry and infectiously fun, time-bending trick McPherson pulls throughout Nite Owls, updating the twangy power pop of Nick Lowes Rockpile on "I Cant Go Anywhere with You" and marrying the low E-string surf melodies of bands like the Surfaris and the Ventures with the anthemically romantic 80s new wave of Blondie, as he does on "Sunshine Summer" and "The Rock and Roll Girls." If there is a musical through line to Nite Owls, it is that big-wave surf sound, one he pushes to the forefront on "The Phantom of New Rochelle," a sparkling instrumental rife with reverb-land guitars that crash and spin against each other like surfers in moonlight. Philosophically, the album feels loosely inspired by Edward Hoppers 1942 painting Nighthawks, in which diner patrons smoke and drink coffee in what feels like a lonely, noirish reverie. With Nite Owls, McPherson has crafted his own rock & roll dream, where townies stuck in the middle of nowhere imagine roads and waves not taken. ~ Matt Collar