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Tom Franklin was born and raised in Dickinson, AL, not far away from the home of Harper Lee. However, his writing has more in common with Mississippi writers like Larry Brown and Ellen Douglas. As a boy (much like Larry Ott in his novel "Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter,") Franklin was not very mechanically inclined. Born into a family of mechanics, Franklin heard his uncle tell the same story eight times in a row to different people. He noticed that on every retelling, his uncle would change a bit here or there - always tailoring his tale to his audience.

His fiction falls somewhere between crime fiction (with a healthy nod to Jim Thompson) and the rigid structure used by Stephen King (who Franklin nods to several times in "Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter.") Moving this tense story of a brief childhood friendship rekindling the mystery around the disappearance of a female college student to Mississippi is more than an opportunity to use the title. Like good Southern Literature, "Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter" illuminates the difference and conflict between generations. Not that Franklin completely thinks of himself as the weird kid/sequestered adult Larry, he invests a lot of himself in this character. In the beginning, even you do not know what to think about the hapless son of a mechanic who due to suspicious behavior is castigated from his small town, the fictional Southeast Mississippi dwelling of Chabot, Mississippi. (Franklin acknowledges in an interview it is not even a town - because the train does not stop there.)

Franklin's other protagonist is Silas "32" Jones, the African-American constable of Chabot. As its sole law enforcement officer, we learn all we need to know about Silas as he moves from task to task. A trip to "White Trash Ave." provides an excellent primer for how succinctly and accurately Franklin can detail both the people and situation Silas is sent to remedy. When Franklin quickly characterizes the children Silas sees as "two crewcuts and a mullet," it is both for humor and with a police officer's sharp sense of study.   In his everyday life, Silas is somewhat beleaguered. His police car is a converted postal Jeep "an addict to both Freon and brake fluid. Not to mention oil." His behavior with other officials (including an EMT that he is secretly seeing) paints him as not only a stand-up guy but one with no fundamental weaknesses.

When Silas starts getting phone calls from Larry Ott, Franklin introduces the hanging cloud of their all-too-brief relationship as kids. Silas ignores these calls but begins asking people to keep him updated on what is happening at Larry's house in relation to the disappearance of the Rutherford girl.  At this point, any good writer would begin interweaving the threads of the story. However, Franklin has already installed - only in those of us reading - a growing fear of the unknown in Larry's life. So, Franklin wisely builds on it by allowing lesser characters to sneak their thoughts and rumors about him into the conversation. Silas' lack of reaction to most of these statements about "Scary Larry" also gives you the sense this might be the chip in his armor.

For Larry, we as readers see him living in a world of fear and uncertainty. A childhood incident with a monster mask (that actually happened to Franklin) is a mysterious break in the action. Franklin's writing becomes as short and choppy as his breath as we "see the monster smaller than it was before." A chilling conclusion to start the book.

When we finally get to the backstory of how Silas and Larry were once friends as children, Franklin keeps investing our empathy into both of them. They are boys. Eager to learn and clearly fighting loneliness in a world that they already feel has no place for them, their friendship is clearly a shot in the arm for them both. They are still very different, but they openly embrace this fact and most importantly that sacrifice is the glue that will make the bond stronger.

Here amid the Loblolly pines, Chabot lives in the shadow of an actual town, Fulsom, the county seat. In addition, Chabot is hurting from businesses closing as Fulsom grows. Still, Franklin paints their nature as vividly as possible. From the once prosperous milltown's sidewalks cracked and sprouting weeds to white cinder block shops, the country holds "clouds of gnats," "steaming toadstools," and "leaves glowing like mirrors." Nature even reconnects Larry and Silas as Silas looks for an old dead tree where buzzards would make their home - a fact that Larry once shared with him on a forest walk.

"Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter" could be anyone's South. The relationships of Silas both work-related and personal portray him as a resident of two different worlds. That balancing act is barely discussed for perspective. Franklin keeps his hands off most of his characters and their machinations resulting in more believability. Instead, he uses most of his position as an omniscient narrator to give just enough detail to make it all feel like it is happening just around the corner or down the road.

Mik Davis is the record store manager at T-Bones Records & Cafe in Hattiesburg.

GOO GOO DOLLS - Chaos In Bloom [CD](Warner)

On their first self-produced album, John Rzeznik and Robby Takac take a look at what it is like to write Pop songs in a world where that adjective is used to describe nearly everything. Wisely, they write from their standpoint of aging in a different time and place ("Yeah, I Like You") and try to at least squeeze in a glimpse of the corner of the big picture.

KIWI JR. - Chopper [LP/CD/CS](SubPop/AMPED)

If it were the heady Nineties, Canadians Kiwi Jr. would be the darlings of burgeoning Alternative Radio. Last year's "Cooler Returns" yielded the genius ridiculousness of the title cut ("Super Bowl Sunday, two-thousand twenty" was an amazing opening line, and the intonation of "howdy Neighbors, how do you like my new ride" was quite the payoff,) For their third album they keep the Slacker Pop going and add a dash of SynthPop ("The Extra Sees The Film.")

BORIS - Heavy Rocks (2022)[LP/CD](Relapse/The Orchard)

Proto-Metal is so important in the history of a genre that grows in shards and spikes in so many directions. Thirty years of being a band venturing into Ambient, Doom, Shoegaze, and more, it is a raging joy to hear the trio flame hard like Flower Travellin' Band ("She Is Burning,") take Black Sabbath/Deep Purple overdrive to Punky extremes ("My Name Is Blank,") and roll feedback and effects into the pre-NWOBHM gallop of "Question 1."

OSEES - A Foul Form [LP/CD](Castleface)

Who is this band? The Garage rockin'/minimal groove/Psychedelia of San Francisco's Osees takes yet another unpredictable turn. In what we can only describe as "Fuzz Punk," "A Foul Form" revives the pogo-ready world of late 70's/early 80's L.A. Punk (the Dead Kennedys-esque menacing "Perm Act.")  The title cut is a blistering 1981 Black Flag burst of steam with a gravelly yowl and a freaked-out skronky solo. While "Funeral Solution" mixes the ring modulator destruction of Devo with a ripping Screamers-style martial thumper.

KELSEY WALDON - No Regular Dog [LP/CD](Oh Boy/The Orchard)

As the last signing of the late John Prine, Kelsey Waldon has some great expectations. Like Prine, Waldon is rooted in Bluegrass and the purity of classic songwriting. On her fourth album, Waldon turns herself over to Grammy-winner Shooter Jennings who reconfigures her as a Seventies Country star. "Sweet Little Girl" still has all the hallmarks of Bluegrass (the sawing fiddle, bellowing steel) but drenched in the Lee Hazlewood-esque sheen of effects, Waldon emerges as a confident Americana wailer. "Tall and Mighty" is a little straighter but her warble welcomes even the most cliched pieces of road-worn singer/songwriter travels once its hits its winning chorus. In anyone else's hands, "Tall and Mighty" would be tearing up Country radio. Still, Waldon makes herself known on "No Regular Dog."

ALEX REX - Mouthful of Earth [LP](Neolithic UK)

Alex Rex's "Paradise" was one of the great surprises of 2021.  Channeling his Folk/Rock through the Seventies production kaleidoscope created an album that produced no tracks that sounded similar - yet they all held together as one. "Mouthful of Earth" is an entirely different beast. Reduced down to his spoken voice reading poetry, his backgrounds are weird and spellbinding. "Andromeda Chained To A Rock" approaches John Cale's circa-Velvets storytelling ("tongue like a flick knife.") Rex's poetry is fairly dark and desperate. However, in his no holds barred race through imagicistic Burroughian lines - Rex manages to inject color into this experience.  

PALE WAVES - Unwanted [LP/CD](Dirty Hit)

While they have been a band for over a decade, Manchester's Pale Waves seem to have emerged from their shell at the right time. In a year with a lot of female-led ROCK bands, Pale Waves wield both personality and hooks. "Jealousy" hearkens back to Garbage and Hole ("Celebrity Skin"-period.) "Lies" plays well with the new Punk that spikes Pop songs today, but still has the mechanical Synth Pop-to-Post-Punk feeling in its skeleton. Vocalist Heather Baron-Gracie could make this band one to watch.

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