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Strause & Company
Come on Over
Blind Dog Records

Click to hear: “I Quit“

The debut album by Strause & Company is a triumph.

As detailed in press materials I received with the CD, Brad Strause grew up in the Midwest and worked various jobs until tragedy struck. “I was getting along relatively happy and minding my own business when I started going blind in my late 30’s,” he explained. “[W]ithin the space of a year, I had lost my vision, my job, and my marriage. It was all like some old worn out blues song — only not as entertaining.”

Essentially housebound and alone, save for his seeing-eye dog, Strause turned to music, “the only thing that seemed to sometimes keep the demons at bay.” He learned to play guitar and write songs, but was resigned to being little more than a “couch-picker” for the rest of his life.

Then in came Matthew Doucet, the first of two genuine heroes in Strause’s story. Doucet, son of famed Cajun musician Michael Doucet of BeauSoleil, offered Strause the opportunity to play in his Cajun band, Douce. Douce tore it up at venues large and small, in Maine and elsewhere, for two years before Doucet had to return to Louisiana, effectively ending the band’s run.

Enter the second hero: John Nunan. Nunan, a producer and drummer in the pop-rock outfit Bullyclub, heard a tape of some of Strause’s songs and was “blown away,” he said, as quoted in the press sheet. “They were perfectly formed masterpieces.”

Nunan set about forming a band to flesh out Strause’s songs, recruiting fellow Bullyclubber Mark McDonough on lead guitar, bassist Dan Knight, harp-player Joe Bloom, and piano-player Neal Shephard. Nunan handled the drums himself, and arranged and produced Come on Over, which features guest appearances by Matthew Doucet, Kris Day and Jason Phelps of Jerks of Grass, harmony vocalist Jody Day, and others.

Strause & Company (from left): Joe Bloom, Brad Strause, Sammy "Bones" Brown, John Nunan, Dan Knight, Mark McDonough, and Jody Day. photos/Steven Quirk, courtesy S&C

Recorded at Acadia Recording in Portland and over a year in the making, Come on Over is one of the most inspiring albums I’ve heard in my 37 years.

The 12-song CD is a mix of old-time country, blues, and folk, with a Cajun ass-kicker, “Possum Stomp,” and the rockin’ “Trick Shot” added for good measure. Musically, it’s flawless. These guys are all top-notch players, and playing with Strause has clearly inspired them to bring their A-games.

Of course, Strause himself is the most remarkable part of the band. Nunan’s right: this guy can write masterful songs. But more impressively for someone cutting his first record, he sings them like he’s been in front of a mic his whole life.

Strause is in complete command of his material. His voice is as real as the hand in front of your face, and he sings with an honesty that will bring tears to your eyes. I choked up by the third track, “Sometimes,” a ballad that contains lines like: “The geese up there are goin’ somewhere better / As the sun sets somewhere way out west / There’s times I don’t know if I’ll ever / Lose the ache in my chest.”

But first you get the country-boogie opener “I Quit,” a perfect example of Strause’s lyrical and vocal facileness, followed by the title track, a musical come-on that sounds like the honky-tonk lovechild of Little Richard and Marcia Ball. And, again, you can’t help but marvel: This is his first record?

Other standouts include the rumbling blues number “Freight Train Comin” (driven by Bloom’s harmonica), the gorgeous and artfully restrained “Marie” (grab another tissue), and “Your Circle (Farewell, Roy Franklin),” a folk tribute to Strause’s late father (hell, just grab the whole box). Some songs are wistful, others playful, but there’s not a dud in the dozen.

Strause & Company is just beginning to gig, and intends to play a lot of shows this year. Given the quality of this record and Strause’s compelling personal story, the band is destined to receive a mountain of praise and press attention in the coming months (I wouldn’t be surprised to see them on Letterman and Ellen by 2010). Strause, Nunan and Doucet deserve every ounce.

—   Chris Busby

Strause & Company play a CD release show on Sat., Feb. 21, at Empire Dine and Dance, 575 Congress St., Portland, at 9 p.m. Tix: $5 (21+). For more info, visit strauseandcompany.com.