I was on I-40, driving back to Raleigh from dinner with a friend in Durham, and this great song came on during a program featuring rising local artists. It sounded kind of like Jay Farrar, if Jay Farrar steered Son Volt off the gravel backroads and onto the expressway for a change. There were hints of Neil Young, John Fogerty, and the power pop of Big Star, too. But it sounded like an homage, not a ripoff.
I'm almost afraid to admit this... But I actually pulled off the freeway at a random exit and sat in a grocery store parking lot until the song finished, and then I left myself a voice memo to remember the name of the band. (Nerd.)
Anyway, the song was "Game" by a Durham-based indie rock outfit, Bull City. Written by the band's frontman/guitarist/occasional keyboardist Jim Brantley, "Game" is a terse, tight rocker about the topic of work/success/priorities. It features crunchy guitars and the kind of driving backbeat that gets you (unwittingly) slapping the steering wheel of your car. It also has these unexpected, lush strings that rise out of nowhere and underlie a stunning guitar solo from Brantley, which sounds like Wilco's Nels Cline reimagining Fogerty's swampy freakout from Creedence's cover of "Suzie Q."
As far as I know, the band only ever put out two short EPs, one of which is Guns & Butter (2007) containing the track "Game." It's a shame they didn't do any more, because Guns & Butter is one hell of a collection of well-crafted songs with raw, live immediacy and heart. I highly recommend downloading it (for free, if you wish) from their Bandcamp artist page.
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