Eddie Spaghetti

For Eddie Spaghetti’s third solo LP, he’s taken a moment to quiet it down and get introspective while seeking answers to life’s big questions: meaty topics such as “If Anyone’s Got the Balls” and just who is “Fuckin’ with My Head.” Or, in other words, his solo work may be a separate project from Supersuckers, but the content doesn’t stray too far away from his previously established boundaries.

The real standout comes in the form of “Waste of Time,” a swinging country-jam that morphs into country-rock by song’s end. It’s both an apt metaphor for the overall record’s sound, a fitting one for host label Bloodshot, and a song that fits Spaghetti’s general mantra:

I thought that I might
then I said, fuck it…
pour another glass of wine
it’s a waste of time

The sound is quieter than Supersuckers, but this is not a somber, acoustic guitar record. It’s a toned down Supersuckers with Spaghetti’s voice and delivery carrying more of the melodic sway in place of the hard rock/metal guitars employed by his full-time band. Accompaniment here comes in form of electric and acoustic guitar, steel pedal, and instrumentation more typically used with country, even if the tone here is down’n’dirty rock’n’roll. It’s a hybrid beast, country and rock, but without wasting all the hyphens.

Spaghetti mixes up the style well throughout The Value of Nothing. “People Are Shit” sounds like carnival music, a honky-tonk anthem for kicking around a skuzzy county fair with warm lager in hand, and follow-up “One Man Job” carries a distinct Willie Nelson influence, with a storytelling narrative overlaid with laid back melodic vocals, and is likely a product of producer Jesse Dayton, who has worked with several noted country artists (including Nelson) over his career and even makes a cameo himself in the song. “Got a Secret” has that rambling, man-of-the-road feel of the American Southwest. “When I Go, I’m Gone” is a wave your lighter in the air ballad to the refrain of “When I go I’m gone/ life ain’t too short/ it’s too long.”

So while Spaghetti pulls from many styles, the heart of The Value of Nothing remains in tune with his catalog. They’re songs of a renegade with a guitar, a dude who pulls up, parks his truck, plays a few songs and drinks a few more beers (and shots), leaving a trail of dust and some catchy tunes stuck in your head, and maybe a few broken items that got in his path.

7.0 / 10 — Loren