After keeping time for bands such as Rilo Kiley and Conor Oberst's Mystic Valley Band, drummer Jason Boesel proves there's more to meets the eye (or ear) with the release of his solo album debut Hustler's Son (Team Love). With a deft combination of grit and twang, Boesel presents alt-country, Americana leanings tempered with an unvarnished, occasionally ramshackle nasal croon that adds to the project's unpretentious good vibes. Neil Young's folkier rambles come to mind as do The Band's Big Pink shuffles in an intersection of Jackson Browne-styled L.A. folk/rock, ragged Wilco-ish riffs and a more rural, barroom jukebox playlist just this side of the whine of a pedal steel guitar.

"There is a wistfulness and a solemn, sober, time-honored reality to the things that Boesel sings about," says Daytrotter, who recently hosted a live studio session, "most of which is a version of looking at the wholeness of what we've become (or failed to become)...He sings about freedom in a way that feels like it holds a lot of purposefulness and authentic meaning." We're particularly fond of the keyboard-soaked "Hand of God" and chuggin' backbeater "French Kissin'" but there's much to warm to here, including "Hustler's Son", the first song Boesel wrote and one that, thanks to the warm reception from friends, became the inspiration for a promising debut album of simple pleasures.

Myspace

Jason Boesel - "Hand of God" (from the album Hustler's Son)