ROB PATTERSON

A guy like me, born into and steeped within rock’n’roll, always needs a new favorite band, or NFB for further discussion here. A group that takes something familiar and beloved and remakes it through their own soul and vision into music that’s fresh, creatively zesty and alluring is nutrition that renews and nourishes my love for my central musical passion.

And the band that most recently won that blue-ribbon honor is The Paranoid Style, a Washington, D.C.-based combo led by singer and songwriter Elizabeth Nelson, a dynamo who’s the smartest gal in whatever room she occupies, alongside her husband, guitarist Timothy Bracy. Their hot combo gets your hips moving, tickles your intellect, warms your heart, and are hip as hell when it comes to what really matters at the heart of rock’n’roll.

When I came across the band – who took their uncommon name from a 1965 book that all but defined the political times we now live in – in 2022, it was instant love. Similar to the immediate NFB I felt the first time a friend played me an import of My Aim Is True by Elvis Costello, who Nelson cites as a primary influence.

Like Costello, Nelson dazzles with her smart, witty and incisive wordplay, floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee as if a Mohammed Ali of the language. Her rabbit-punch singing delivers her literate and cheeky lyrical gushers with stunning finesse, not just articulating her galloping onrush of words, but investing them with a cornucopia of spot-on emotional heft. No little feat that. Trust me, I’ve tried….

And the music her band invests into her songs is dazzlingly delicious, with all the snap, crackle and pop of truly inspired and lovable rock’n’roll. It all leapt on initial listens into my rock’n’roll Valhalla.

I first listened to The Paranoid Style on their third album, Of Executive Meetings, at a time in my life that was drenched with sorrow on a drive from Austin, Texas, to just south of Dallas to inter the cremains of my late and much beloved mother – like Nelson, also an Elizabeth. Road trips being just about the finest time to blast, savor and fully imbibe music, the LP wooed me as its first song with lambent strings – nodding in its title, “Barney Bubbles,” in homage to a visionary English postmodern artist and album cover designer – and builds into a (pardon the fitting pun) bubbling rock symphonette.

The rest of the record sailed along with me at high speed along the interstate. When it ended, I played it again. The next day, after the interment, I slipped the CD into the car’s player yet again. Yep, major-league NFB love.

Nelson and Bracy both have a winning way with words even beyond just songs, being, like me, well-published music journos with impeccable musical taste; Nelson also regularly posts concisely erudite encapsulations that capture the soul of the finest rockers on X/Twitter that delight. Even when I may have a small music scribe peer quibble, I still like and get what she says. She’s also, fittingly, a copywriter for Fender guitars, and an educational consultant on the matter of distressed teens – the patient zeroes for rock music. The Paranoid Style’s catalog is rich with such song gems that roam through the zeitgeist with wit, wisdom and a beat that can’t be beat.

Sometimes when I am sitting at my computer working and need a boost, I go to the YouTube video for “The Thrill Is Back,” a rollicking tune from the band’s first album. The video zings the pretensions of too many music vids – with a major cameo assist by the sly cheeky Jordan Klepper of “The Daily Show,” who skillfully gets MAGA morons to say stupid things in his visits to tRump rallies – by being as fun as rock’n’roll should be. And at the same time intellectually inspired. The song never fails to deliver joy.

If I ruled the world and popular music, The Paranoid Style would be in heavy Top 10 rotation on every device and stream. So, hey, check ‘em out and get inspired and way happy!

Populist Picks

TV Series: “The Bear” (Season Four) – The most cinematic and human show on television today continues to wow me with its multicored brilliance on the matter of vocational passion, in this case fine cuisine and dining, and the ups, downs, turns and twists of life that swirls around it.

TV Series: “Your Friends & Neighbors” – An ideal show for these uneasy economic times. Jon Hamm shines as a fired hedge-fund wolf who resorts to burgling the homes in his upscale community to cover his maxed-out budget. Hilarity and relevance ensues.

Rob Patterson is a music and entertainment writer in Austin, Texas.

Email robpatterson054@gmail.com.