Joe Grushecky takes it back to 1968 on powerful new 'Cant Outrun a Memory' album
You can't outrun a memory — or can you?
Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers' blistering new furnace rock album, “Can’t Outrun a Memory,” has a narrative that spans from the tumultuous year of 1968 to the present. The events of today are mirroring the events of '68 — which included assassinations, riots and a war — and that's not a good thing.
“Hey everybody, let’s just take a breath and take a look around us here and celebrate our sameness and the things we have in common instead of getting crazy about the differences,” said Grushecky, interviewed on the phone from his Pittsburgh home a few days before the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“It’s just a crazy time to grow up on and it parallels the crazy time I grew up. I thought that was going to be hard to top.”
Album tracks include “Here in '68,” a sweeping rocker that meets folksy storytelling; “Until I See You Again,” a bar room salute to those who have departed; and “Just Drive,” a moody power ballad best played late at night on a lost highway. A record release show will take place Saturday, July 20, at the Wonder Bar in Asbury Park.
The dimensions of the record are deep, and so are its origins. In 1968, Grushecky and a young lady were involved in a fender bender, and then struck by a drunk driver. The lady died.
“I stated dreaming about how everything changed for me,” said Grushecky, 76, of the moment. “The night the accident happened the young lady and I were talking, and she didn’t know I played guitar. I don’t know if I made a promise to myself, or a secret promise, but I’ve pretty much been on that straight path to where it leads me today as far as musically.”
Grushecky and the former Iron City Houserockers broke through in the mid-1970s on Cleveland International Records, the same label of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes.
The rocker collaborated with Bruce Springsteen on the 1995 Houserockers comeback album, “American Babylon.” The Boss co-wrote “Homestead” and “Dark and Bloody Ground” with Grushecky for the album, and he produced and played on it. He also joined the band for a short promo tour.
Another Grushecky and Springsteen composition, “Code of Silence,” won the 2005 Grammy for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance for Springsteen. The career-spanning “Houserocker: A Joe Grushecky Anthology,” was released in May on Omnivore Recordings, the same label that issued the new “Can't Outrun a Memory.”
“I’m please and flattered,” said Grushecky of the anthology. “It looks so good.”
Grushecky, along with artist Michael “Porkchop” LaVallee, restaurateurs and philanthropists Tim and Beth McLoone, and arts advocate Joe Barris will be honored at Monmouth Arts L’art du Cirque on Friday, Sept. 27, at the Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel and Tim McLoone's Supper Club in Asbury Park. Grushecky's support of the Parkinson's fighting Light of Day Foundation is cited in the bestowment.
Yes, that was Grushecky's music that opened the new Bell Theater in May inside the historic Bell Works complex in Holmdel. Broadway regulars Constantine Maroulis and Teal Wicks starred in the musical “East Carson Street,” which featured songs of Grushecky that told the story of his Pittsburgh hometown.
Grushecky attended several of the shows.
“That was a trip sitting there watching my songs without playing along or singing,” Grushecky said. “A couple of times I wanted to jump up and join in.”
Go: Joe Grushecky & The Houserockers, 8 p.m. Saturday, July 20, Wonder Bar, 1213 Ocean Ave., Asbury Park. $31.50 in advance, $37 at the door; wonderbarasburypark.com.
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Bouncing Souls' new whiskey
Here's one for my baby, and one for the show.
Introducing Anchors Aweigh, a bourbon whiskey Jersey punk legends the Bouncing Souls have fashioned in collaboration with Iron Smoke Distillery of Fair Haven, New York.
The band is hosting a tasting at Low Dive at 1000 Ocean Ave. in Asbury Park after the Vic Ruggiero and Sammy Kay show at 6 p.m. Friday, July 19, at the Transparent Clinch Gallery, 215 Fifth Ave., across the street from Low Dive.
More: New 'East Carson Street' at Bell Works features music of Joe Grushecky (and Springsteen)
The band's annual Stoked for the Summer fest takes place Saturday, July 20, at the city's Stone Pony Summer Stage. The Vandals, the Dead Milkmen, Sheer Mag, Catch-22, and Des & the Swagmatics also on the bill. Afterparty at Low Dive following the show.
Go: Stoked for the Summer with the Bouncing Souls, 4 p.m. Saturday, July 20, Stone Pony Summer Stage, 913 Ocean Ave., Asbury Park, $48; stoneponyonline.com.
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Chris Jordan, a Jersey Shore native, covers entertainment and features for the USA Today Network New Jersey. Contact him at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Joe Grushecky takes it back to 1968 on powerful new album
