With the vocal veracity and emotion of a Southern Dave Grohl and Aaron Lewis mixed with the songbird characteristics of an Avett Brother with a little extra rasp, Murfreesboro area guitarist Patrick Johnson and his Southern roots-rock/trucker-gospel quartet—whose not afraid of roadhouse country and blues and who sure as hell isn’t afraid to play it silly—released its debut EP, PJ and the Bear, with a sound suitable for playing as beer bottles thrown by a crying woman at the back of the bar break against chicken wire.
It’s a solid EP.
Starting off the 5-track experience, “Home to Stay” combines the Bear’s beginning bass and hi-hat drive with a rough lead guitar hook, and then an unexpected Wurlitzer electric piano howl gets audiences hucking bottles. All together, this wall of sound protects Johnson like chicken wire wrapped around the stage as he sings If I keep my wits about me this won’t be my last and lonely ride.
The thematic notion of PJ and the Bear touches on some grown-up material, processing the strength it takes to get out of a painful relationship once optimism fails, and what it takes to make a man ready to leave. It’s PJ’s introspection—he knew that woman’s soul—and the lyrics continue to deal with the process, hurt and wisdom involved in ending a relationship.
“Done with Me” stands as the EP’s slow rocker, heartfelt with Johnson’s goosebump-inducing wails. And punching an old upright piano hard enough to hear it through a band’s crescendo is appropriate for any roadhouse standard; here it’s accompanied by Patrick’s piercing You’re done with me again / Say we finally reached the end of this failed experiment / If you don’t want to break you gotta learn how to bend / So I’ll take one more to the chin / Just say you’re done with me again.
PJ and the Bear’s honky-tonk “slow dance” song “It All Comes Back” displays the Bear’s lead guitarist on the lap guitar as Patrick uses a whammy bar on his own riffs in a cool blend of guitar sounds. The bridge is where there’s a little silliness, with the Wurlitzer and fiddle dueting as strange bedfellows within the roadhouse drama. This is also where Johnson gets Avett-y in vocal style, but overdoes his rasp elsewhere.
“I Won’t Be There” has an influence of Tom Petty’s “Refugee” through and through. The backing vocals double the lyrical punch as the Wurlitzer, now with a vibrato effect, screams fillers like Tom Petty hired John Linnell from They Might Be Giants to key a blues number.
“Thorn” is the ultimate relationship song of the EP’s referring to a woman, present but gone, as Patrick shakes his head, No, I wont hold this against you / You’re out of your mind / Searching for something you knew you’d never find / Smelling your perfume will be something I can no longer abide / And I thank all the ways you found to be a thorn in my side, while each part of the Bear stretches out a solo—a fast-licked mandolin, a disciplined, straightforward guitar solo, and then the final, sweet keyboard solo that leads into a minor key outro. This one is very rich in production with Johnson’s rasp eloquently placed, accompanied by a crying fiddle.
“Thorn” seemingly leaves you exactly where the album’s subject matter intends: down in the dumps, and with a vagueness that doesn’t pinpoint who’s to blame; PJ’s wise enough to keep it that way. It’s that kind of “Dammit, nothing but screwed by someone, again” feeling we all grow to know, but PJ and the Bear does pop as a wonderful softening of hurt.
PJ and the Bear has been out there touring around Middle Tennessee and Alabama with its next local show at Mayday Brewery (521 Old Salem Rd.) on Saturday, Aug. 12, joined by Murfreesboro feelgood staple, Mize and The Drive. The show starts at 6 p.m., so be sure to be there to poke the Bear.
For more on PJ and the Bear, visit pjandthebear.com or find the band streaming on Spotify.
