Anti
2006
Cold As The Clay
About This Album
Following a solo album released in 1997 under the alias American Lesion, Cold as the Clay comes as the first effort from Bad Religion frontman Greg Graffin issued under his own name. Unlike the simple singer/songwriter approach of American Lesion, this album finds Graffin -- backed by members of the Weakerthans, among other musicians -- paying homage to his early upbringing in Wisconsin (where family singalongs were prevalent) with what the album sticker proclaims as "a heart-rending collection of old-timey American folk." And essentially, that's exactly what Cold as the Clay is. Recorded and mixed in a week with players sitting in the studio as though around a campfire, the reflective songs range from mere acoustic numbers to ones that further incorporate banjo, mandolin, harmonica, and more. Graffin penned five of the 11 songs presented, the rest of the record containing reworked versions of traditional classics; however, all tracks intermingle as though they were always from the same time period and nothing sounds contrived. And even with the absolute lack of the revved-up punk that Graffin is normally associated with -- which may catch some Bad Religion fans off guard -- his distinctive unwavering vocal delivery remains the exact same.
Track List (try tracks 1,3,6,7 and 11)

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