GoodSongs: Scruffy the Cat

Contrary to conventional wisdom, some great music was made in the 80’s.  I remember sitting in my apartment in Nashville and listening to WRVU for hours on end.  It was the decade of REM, Guadalcanal Diary, the Beat Farmers, the Replacements, Lone Justice.  And Scruffy the Cat.

I dug Scruffy because they had a bit of a country sound.  One of my favorite records of the decade was Scruffy’s Tiny Days, from 1987.  I was out of grad school, had a real job, and the alt. rock, roots rock, good time vibe of the mid-80s was fading.  Tiny Days was like a last hurrah.

Sadly, I can’t find Tiny Days for sale anywhere for under $40.  I guess it has achieved collector’s status.  If you can find it, buy it.

If you can’t, lead singer Charlie Chesterman’s first two solo records, From the Book of Flames (which I just bought on eBay) and Studabakersfield (which I’ve had forever), while also sadly out of print (at least as far as Amazon is concerned), can be found for a reasonable sum on Charlie’s web site, as well as on eBay and the like.

Here’s the Scruffy version of Time Never Forgets, which Charlie also covered on Studabakersfield.

Good stuff!

Artist Notice: I am a musician and songwriter.  I do these posts to draw attention to great music in the hopes that our readers will buy these records and allow these artists to continue making great music.  If you don’t want us to feature your music, let us know and we’ll take the song file down immediately.  On the other hand, if you are an artist who does the sort of music we feature, let us know.  We’re always looking for new artists to feature.