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On this, his eighth album, Indiana native Tim Carroll continues his blend of punk ethos and roots-rock melodicism, while exploring different sounds and instruments, playing most of them himself.

On the title track, "All Kinds of Pain," he blends bluesy acoustic guitar with a wailing harmonica and sings a laundry list of the many types of pain, with a detached point of view.

"You Got Me" starts with a catchy, angular riff before Tim's clever play on words laments his status in a relationship.

"Poor Man's Way," an ode to the underpaid, has a funky acoustic groove over Marco Giovino's slamming drums.

The electric guitar clanging of "That's What I'm For" finds Carroll in familiar territory...a sneering vocal over thrashing chords and ripping leads.

Tim takes a look at being an opening act on the big stage with "The Crowd Wants Blood." Great melody and a haunting arrangement that features a twangy country guitar trading fills with a plaintive harmonica.

Big Rock riffs dominate "Run For Love," a tale of advice for the clueless in love, anchored by Giovino's Elvis-at-Sun era snare drum.

For long-time Carroll fans, "Drive All Night" is perhaps the most unusual tune on the record, a call-and-response vocal over a hip-hop drum groove, piano and strings. Signature guitar fills abound in this epic track.

Gut-string guitars in a Baroque riff underpin the down-and-out tale of two people wondering "What'll We Do 'Til Then." Ominous drums suggest that things may not turn out like the singer hopes.

It's dance party time, so get "Educated." Tim lays out the facts, and even double tracks his own personal Ronettes to punctuate the fact that he's been to school. A very funky school.

"Can't Stay Young" is the great lost Kinks riff, with the voice of experience giving tips to the listener on how to stay hip.

"Soybeans, Cotton And Corn." No, it's not the Farm Report, just a list of things it took to get out of the fields and onto the stage. Luckily, he's picking guitars these days.

A swampy version of "If I Could" shows the versatility of a great song...you can cut it lots of ways and it will still work.

[Tom Spaulding ] BIOGRAPHY

Tim Carroll, a product of rural Indiana, releases his eighth record, All Kinds Of Pain, in July 2009. As rhythm guitarist in the late-70s Bloomington, Indiana punk band, The Gizmos (Gulcher), Tim displayed his bare-bones rock ethic, then polished it in the 80s with The Blue Chieftains, his New York City bar band (Diesel Only Records).

A Nashville transplant since 1993, Tim has had songs recorded by John Prine, Asleep At The Wheel, BR-549, Robbie Fulks, Kasey Chambers, Elizabeth Cook, Bare Jr., Sunny Sweeney, Sonny Burgess and many others.

In 1995, he made the cover of Billboard magazine in an article about Nashville's burgeoning alt-country music scene. In 1996, Tim was nominated for a Nashville Music Award in the category of "Best Unsigned Artist." In 1997, he signed a deal with Sire Records and began working with producer Andy Paley.

In 1999, Carroll had two of his Sire recordings on major motion picture soundtracks. Election featured the song "Find A Way To Win," and Drop Dead Gorgeous includes a song co-written with the late Duane Jarvis, "A Girl That's Hip."

Since 2000, Tim has appeared on The Grand Ole Opry literally hundreds of times as sideman to his wife, Americana chanteuse and Sirius Radio host Elizabeth Cook. He's toured in Japan, Great Britain, France, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Poland, and South Korea.

PRESS

"Tim Carroll is a fiery stage presence, a tremendous Chuck Berry-loving guitar player and a songwriter who blends intelligence, humor and aggression into something wholly idiosyncratic and tremendously entertaining." (Peter Cooper, The Tennessean/Nashville)

"Carroll's witty realism brings a large dose of humor to a genre that too often takes itself too seriously. But...In their own way, Carroll's songs are as serious as anything by heavyweights such as Son Volt or Wilco." (Mark Wilson, Scripps Howard News Service)

"Carroll still wields a six-string like a possessed choirboy." (Nashvillerage.com)

"Buy everything this man has ever recorded." (Robert K. Oermann, Musicrow.com)

"What Carroll has nearly mastered is a punk-informed blend of country, blues and Chuck Berry-style guitar, along with the craft of simple but cleverly contemplative songs." (Baker Maultsby, No Depression)

"His guitar playing conjures up a crossroads where Bakersfield country runs smack into the New York Dolls." (Jim Ridley, The Nashville Scene)

"His punkish and infectious delight creates rock & roll sounds that counterpoint his nonchalant, conversational and intelligent songs." (John Conquest, 3rd Coast Music Magazine)

"Tough, energetic roots-rock, highlighted by clever songwriting and his own blistering guitar work." (Don Yates, KEXP/Seattle)

"Tim has an effortless garage-rock swagger...and, at the same time, he plays and writes with a goofy, jaunty small-town joy." (Grant Alden, No Depression)

"The heavy rocker, and the funky philosopher." (Don Zelazny, American Roots)

DISCOGRAPHY

Good Rock From Bad (Sound Asleep Records/Sweden, 1996)
Not For Sale (self-released, 2000)
Free Again (self-released, 2001)
If I Could (Shoeshine Records/Scotland, 2001)
Always Tomorrow (Sideburn Records, 2002)
Good Rock From Bad (Buffalo Records/Japan, 2002)
The Devil Is A Busy Man (self-released, 2007)
All Kinds Of Pain (Gulcher Records, 2009)