Consumer Guide Album

Gurf Morlix: Caveman [Rootball, 2022]
On sheer output alone--Morlix has self-produced 13 albums of original songs since he split with Lucinda Williams prior to Car Wheels on a Gravel Road--the Austin songwriter-guitarist-vocalist-producer is a wonder. But till now he never came close to equalling his 2011 tribute to Austin legend Blaze Foley, with six consecutive 2013-2022s Honorable Mentions hampered by both the gruffness of his sprechgesang and the hitch in his groove. This one maintains throughout, dipping briefly in the middle but soon picking up where it left off and then finishing strong. "Hodgepodge" rhymes with both garage and espionage, the idyllic lookback "1959" ignores Frankie Avalon et al as only a guy born in 1951 could, and "Make Me Your Monkey" volunteers as well to be her "tool" before it even masters the chords to "I'm a Believer." A-