Rock guitarist and singer, Joe Grushecky, has been a torch-bearer of American rock for over 30 years. The Pittsburgh-native and founding member of the Iron City Houserockers recently released his 17th solo studio record, Somewhere East of Eden, a refreshing album that shows that after all of these years, Grushecky still knows how to rock.

With a music career that started in the late 70’s, Grushecky has been playing American bar rock to audiences for over three decades. Moreover, Grushecky is also known as a special education teacher when he is off the stage. Plus, as the executive board member of the Light of Day Foundation, he has helped to raise over $1 million worldwide to combat Parkinson’s Disease.

In Somewhere East of Eden, Grushecky is able to capture the listener’s attention throughout this album. The album is an embodiment of pure human emotion, which emanates from his songs through his raw voice and driving guitar.

This becomes clear right from the first track, “I Can Hear the Devil Knocking,” a song that had me turning up the volume to 10 as I became enraptured by this song about working class struggles. “Prices Going Up” is another driving song that deserves to be cranked up loudly. Groovy and soulful, this is one of those songs that you can feel the raw vexation in Grushecky’s voice as he sings about tough economic situations.

There are other songs on the album that grip the listener’s heart with Grushecky’s lyrical storytelling. “Who Cares About Those Kids” is a powerful song about a boy and his difficult childhood while “When Castro Came Down From the Hills” tells a story about a girl in Cuba before Castro came to power, and this riveting and somber song also draws from Caribbean music elements. Another emotional song is the title-track itself, “Somewhere East of Eden,” which deals with a veteran’s struggle with his tragic memories of war.

My favorite song from this album though is “Magnolia,” which draws out feelings of nostalgia and longing. Just hearing the acoustic intro made me feel as if I were in the bucolic heartland of America, witnessing the story of the heartbreak of a man after Magnolia moves away from his town. The emotional ending as Grushecky repeatedly sings “Magnolia” sounds as if he is calling out to her, hoping to see her again, just one more time.

Grushecky also pokes fun at the fact that he is getting older in an acoustic piece called “I Still Look Good (for Sixty)” that I fortunately cannot relate to (yet). On the other hand, the youth of rock is captured in the song “I Was Born to Rock,” an in-your-face rock song that hits home to everyone who aspires to be a musician.

According to a press release, Grushecky spoke about the album, saying, “I began to focus on telling a story. I wanted to write about my life right now, about a man who is getting older and lives and works in a community where people struggle daily and nothing is ever guaranteed. I wanted to write about the kids who are often neglected and the veterans who are often forgotten. I wanted to write about my life as a teacher and about the future that we are handing to our children. And I wanted to write about going out on a Friday night, plugging in a guitar, and turning it up to ten!”

And sure enough, all of those stories are told on, Somewhere East of Eden, a brilliant collection of powerful and timeless rock songs that had me engaged the whole time.

-Nicholas Cho