Andrew Gabbard's third solo album, released November 15, 2024 on Karma Chief Records. Twelve songs, forty minutes, and once again Gabbard handles essentially everything himself — singing and playing the instruments — extending the one-man-band approach he established on Homemade in 2021 and refined on the Cedar City Sweetheart reissue in 2023. The Dayton journeyman keeps stacking solo records in between his day-job touring with The Black Keys.
Where Homemade leaned into bedroom-pop intimacy, Ramble & Rave On! stretches out: 60s-pop hooks bumping up against alt-country twang and short bursts of psychedelic guitar. The songcraft still nods to Beach Boys, Emitt Rhodes, Big Star, and Neil Young, but with more swagger and a tighter hand on arrangement.
Cool stuff:
- Still one-man-band: Gabbard sings and plays nearly every instrument on the record himself, with very few exceptions
- Released on Karma Chief, the pop-leaning sister to Cincinnati's funk/soul label Colemine Records
- His day gig is touring guitar for The Black Keys — he and brother Zachary joined Auerbach and Carney's live band in 2019
- Track titles tell the story: "Just Like Magic," "Magic Taxi," "Everywhere I Go I Don't Belong," and "Mulberry Rock" lay out the album's restless, on-the-road feel
Spin it for: sun-bleached power pop with a country-rock edge, played and sung by one guy who knows exactly what he's doing.
Standouts: "Just Like Magic" · "Magic Taxi" · "I Ain't Your Average Jerk" · "Everywhere I Go I Don't Belong"
Sources: The Fire Note · Folking.com · Talk From The Rock Room · Bandcamp · Colemine Records