Steve Gunn's Time Off was one of 2013's most unfairly overlooked records. The guitarist blends the traditional and the avant-garde, fusing the sounds of John Fahey, The Grateful Dead and Will Oldham into back-porch masterpieces. Time Off is the kind of album that can suck the energy out of any room — in a good way.
I can only hope people don't sleep on Gunn's next album, Way Out Weather, which is due out Oct. 7. Then again, given the strength of its first single, "Milly's Garden," it might be a little tougher to doze this time around. Gunn's virtuosic guitar work is still the main attraction, but his backing band of session players gives the song a Rolling Stones-circa-Exile on Main Street vibe. The sick instrumental jam that unfolds after about two and a half minutes is simultaneously earthy and epic.
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