Mike Kelly: Beer Nutz (Brand Songs)

Mike Kelly, the ribald raconteur of River Edge, is back with a triumphant new CD after a five-year hiatus. "Beer Nutz (Brand Songs)" is a boozy blow out of dipsomaniacal delight, featuring eleven original new songs, four of which, as you may have surmised from the title, celebrate the inebriant arts.

But "Beer Nutz" is much more than bar ballads and distilled ditties. This a mature Mike Kelly flexing his musical muscles in serious way (well except for "Go Away Poop and "My Last Pair," the former co-written by our own Stalwart and the latter proudly co-written by your own humble editor [thank you]).

We love this album and we are going to feature songs from it all week. OK, sure, we got song writing credits, but that didn't influence our opinion at all (funny, Mike has three other albums that I don't have any song writing credits on, but I can't recall their names right now, hmmmm).

Anyway, don't take our word for it, listen for yourself. The first track is the confessional "Tap That Brew." The song prominently features Producer/Guitarist Tom Gioia playing an SRV-isnpired blues guitar lead positively dripping with wah-wah effect.

Take a listen.

Tomorrow's featured track: "My Last Clean Pair"