The Brooklyn Side

THE BOTTLE ROCKETS

Atlantic

While Uncle Tupelo was busy building their dynasty in a little corner of the Americana scene, another band from Bumfuck, Missouri was making gritty heartland music that was, at its best, arguably the equal of their more celebrated peers. Fronted by Brian Henneman, former roadie and guest lead guitarist for Tupelo, The Bottle Rockets reached their apotheosis with The Brooklyn Side (it's a bowling term), a collection of rootsy gems that examined small-town life with a cutting wit. Henneman's gargling-carpet-tacks vocals and rugged guitar solos propel songs about shitty cars, petty cops, welfare mothers and general loserdom.

This article appears in May 31 – Jun 6, 2006.

Eric Snider is the dean of Bay area music critics. He started in the early 1980s as one of the founding members of Music magazine, a free bi-monthly. He was the pop music critic for the then-St. Petersburg...