Greg Trooper - Straight Down Rain (2001)

Greg Trooper has built a reputation as a solid singer/songwriter whose works have been covered by everyone from Billy Bragg to Steve Earle and Vince Gill. Though he hails from New Jersey, he's lived between Nashville and Austin long enough to be considered a local in both places. He's recorded four previous albums, and has written the single greatest remembrance song in history -- "Every Single Day" -- and is loved by pretty much everybody who plies his craft. In other words, the guy has developed his talent over time and his previous recordings to finally deliver the album he always dreamed he'd record. That record is Straight Down Rain. Trooper gets to the root of what he has always been yet never completely accepted: a rock & roll songwriter who likes the raw, stinging tone of a Fender Telecaster and the punch of a drum kit to go with occasional pedal steel guitars and fiddles. Produced by Phil Madeira and starring drummer Kenny Blevins, guitarist David Jacques, and a host of guests that include Julie Miller, Bill Lloyd, Fats Kaplan, and Maura O'Connell.