That guy!

Lu Urquidi
American Bounty
(7-Track Cd Ep)

When we last heard from Lu Urquidi—five long yearsago (he never writes us anymore! Not even at Christmas!)—we . . . well, uh, we don't remember much, since all our 1998 notes have since been shredded, and his demo that we reviewed back then is entombed deeply in the National Locals Only Archives. All we know is that we liked the guy with the funny-looking name, enough to scribble something glowing. So then he drops this CD-R on us out of nowhere, we throw it on our box, and then . . . yeah, yeah, yes! It's that guy, the singer-songwriter-acoustic guitar player-South County-living guy, who does these great, timeless songs that sound like inbred offspring from Dylan's Blood on the Tracks. The guy who plays these terrifically rollin'-and-a-tumblin' blues licks as if he's been tongued by Son House. The guy who can turn around and coax out sweet instrumental passages like "Ansay on the Rocks," seemingly designed for absorption whilst sitting around contemplating life and the universe and all the goodness and evilness in it. The guy who could appeal to everyone from SUV-loving James Taylor yuppies to Phish heads needing some extra ear fuel for their bong-toking sessions. The guy whose charmer of a voice reminds us of prime David Bromberg. The guy who can pen a not very thinly veiled I've-been-dumped song like "Severance Pay" and make it that much more painful by wailing, "Wait! Wait!" knowing full well that he ain't ever gonna get her back, but he'll at least try no matter how pathetic he looks, and who the hell hasn't been there? The stuff of near-genius, it is. Really, Lu, you oughta let us know what's going on with you more often.

Contact: (949) 636-9464.