Johnstown, PA, is blistered with decades of bad luck. From a series of floods, outsourced jobs, and a grieving populace stricken with drug abuse (and in staggering numbers, drug overdoses), Johnstown is certainly the epicenter of an anemic American Dream.
And musician Jake Dryzal – a Johnstown resident and witness to the above – has a heartbreaking story to tell; a plain-speaking, mostly acoustic (but dreamy) concept album created under his latest musical iteration, Great American Racer.
Dryzal – the nearly singular force behind his latest release (because we can’t forget the tasteful drumming of Autumn Obusek) – creates an album with layers of acoustic guitars, a subtle, light-bringing electric, and the occasional unimposing synth.The voice is simple, almost conversational; it tells the story without a vocalist’s warbling melodrama, and does so beautifully within a cavernous reverb.
“This is my song from the river
And to the city that I call my home
If the waves try to reach you
Then you and I are not alone”
Excerpt – “From the River”
Great American Racer (the album and the band) imparts Johnstown’s plight with respectful restraint and dignified ease (all while acknowledging the penetrating, generational trauma). And its acoustic environment, mostly consistent throughout, has moments where the urgency of rock and roll seeps in (“Sunrise and Mellow”).
From the opener (“Desire”) to the big, piano-led closer boasting some of the album’s most emotionally poignant moments (“For November”), this12-track testimonial beautifully wrings hope from a place that can’t seem to recapture it. Highly recommended.
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BELOW: Listen to Great American Racer, and check out their website, Facebook, and Instagram. Please support GAR by visiting them online, and playing, downloading, and/or purchasing their music. And, as always, thank you for supporting real music.
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