Right out of the gate, Chuck Prophet lets you know what it’s going to take to keep up on this record. This Americana-Folk-Rockabilly-Blues-Cali-Rock & Roll album is genre defying and unstoppable.

This is far from Chuck Prophet’s first work. This is his 14th solo album, and just one of many he has recorded with his wife, Stefanie Finch, and rock group, Green on Red. His body of work is extensive and worth checking out, but this record, his first in three years, is an unstoppable West Coast force. It feels like Tom Petty decided to go wild, and asked Lou Reed to come along. It is insanely good.

“A tattoo of a Matador, that’s my family crest,” is crooned by Prophet in Coming Out in Code as he explains to us the ways of life and love and missed chances.

The title track, Bobby Fuller Died for Your Sings, kicks off the album and takes on the mysterious happenings of Bobby Fuller’s untimely death. With little known as to what actually happened to the I Fought the Law singer, Prophet embellishes Fuller’s passing as a sacrifice for our sins and, in return, we are given the gift of rebellious rock and roll.

“I hear the record crackle, the needle skips and jumps…

And I ain’t never seen a movie that moved me half as much

Bobby Fuller died for your sins”

This song is offered as a hymn to open the skies and invite the power of dance to come forth and leads us through to the albums halfway point, In the Mausoleum. This track features guitar licks that would worry even Dick Dale.

After this track, Prophet begins to soften his approach and begins the wind down to mellow us for the approach and landing of this outstanding record.

Chuck Prophet, 54, has been a part of music for a long time. His experience shows on the album, Bobby Fuller Died for Your Sins. The effortless way he makes each track sound truly exudes California cool. This kind of Zen is hard to fake, and it is transparent and flimsy when it is falsified.

This record is worth your time, and if all of this has not convinced you, I present one final piece of evidence: Track 10 is a song titled, If I Was Connie Britton. There is no way that any person can resist hearing a song with that title. I defy you to try. We as humans have passed wanting to be Gandhi, Mother Teresa, or Elvis, and we now know that our worth lies in the true star of Friday Night Lights, Connie Britton.

Seriously, this record is a shining star on a dark night. It is 100% worth your time and streaming data.

X