Folker

iTunes Review

Though Paul Westerberg can write and perform the well-honed pop tune, it isn’t the catchy, lovable hook that’s driven his finest compositions either with the Replacements or in his ongoing solo career. It’s the emotional commitment he brings to the performance. His manicured pop albums from the 1990s — 1996’s Eventually in particular — all have their moments of brilliance, but even their strongest draw has been Westerberg himself. His withered, weather-beaten voice conveys incredible weight and as applied to songs on 2004’s Folker as personally involved as “My Dad,” “Anyway’s All Right” and “Lookin’ Up in Heaven,” which reflect upon his father’s recent passing, he manages to pay tribute without lapsing into cheap sentiment, keeping his wits, love and humor together with churning Stones-like rhythms and an unlikely optimism, though not optimism in the traditional sense. Westerberg will never be confused with a speaker at an ‘Up With People’ rally. But there is a joy to his music making that bursts forth in his unpretentious, matter-of-fact recordings where an electric guitar represents an escape to a better world just within his reach.