Another week and its new junk hitting the counter right now: ROKY ERICKSON & OKKERVIL RIVER, DAVID BALL “Sparkle City”! hmmm, INFAMOUS STRINGDUSTERS (Go cats go), also got in extras of a few Record Store Day LPs that ran out: RAMONES-Mania. REM-Chronic Town, a few more Lennon single sets. Now spinning: we are digging a CD of… ETHIOPIAN Jazz-funk and soul: MULATU ASTATKE-New York-Addis-London-Ethio Jazz 1965-1975, GET DOWN! ALSO rocking more than a bit to the SUBPOP 20 CD a various artist compilation with everybody from the label on it live: IRON & WINE, BLITZEN TRAPPER, LOW, MUDHONEY, COMETS ON FIRE, BEACHWOOD SPARKS etc. 20 tracks – $8.99 = NICE. Lastly, yes I think it rained nice steady rain — bye bye pollen, hello green spring Greenville, LET THE PORCH SEASON BEGIN.

So here’s lowdown on ROKY ERICKSON’s new CD/LP: Legendary musician Roky Erickson triumphantly returns with True Love Cast Out All Evil, his first new album in fourteen years, produced by Will Sheff from Okkervil River, and featuring Will and Okkervil as Erickson’s backing band. True Love Cast Out All Evil is comprised largely of unreleased songs that Austin native Erickson wrote throughout his decades-long career – detailing with heart-breaking candor a harrowing life that has included shock treatment, imprisonment, mental illness, and irreversible loss. With a wisdom that can only be marshaled by someone who has been through all of this, Erickson also interjects the songs with love, hope, and spiritual grace. While True Love Cast Out All Evil echoes the many musical styles in which Erickson has been a participant or a pioneer – including garage-rock, lo-fi psych, heavy metal, and country-tinged Texas folk – it also moves Erickson into new territory, foregrounding his songwriting skill. In these songs, Erickson addresses his troubled history in his own words, eschewing the metaphors of earlier songs like “I Walked with a Zombie” to speak directly about hardship and the lessons learned from it. Will Sheff’s production highlights the songs while interweaving them with found-sound and archival recordings culled from Erickson’s home videos and recordings made in the Rusk State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. This is not a cynical comeback record, a lukewarm update on an established legacy – these are the best songs Roky has ever written, unreleased due to decades of personal problems.