Artist:     Dave Goddess Group

Album:     Once in a Blue Moon

Label:     Self-released

Release Date:     02.28.19

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Just like the ones scrawled all over the old wood wall nailed to the cover of Once in a Blue Moon, the stars—however crudely drawn—are aligning for the Dave Goddess Group. The band’s first full-length album since 2012’s Something New, the unpretentious and charming Once in a Blue Moon follows three well-regarded EPs that have filled the void admirably.

Plain honesty and integrity are hallmarks of Goddess’s unfussy songwriting and storytelling, driven by an underdog rock ‘n’ roll spirit that’s loveably shaggy and soulful. Uplifting at times, with the anthemic “Volunteers” appealing for more humanity and involvement from mankind, Once in a Blue Moon is mostly built of solid, mid-tempo roots-rock with a working-class bent, as the softly weathered guitar-jangle of “When Lightning Strikes” fits comfortably alongside the easygoing, melodic swing of “When You’re Happy, I’m Happy,” where divorce proceedings are recounted with good-natured, self-effacing testimony. The upbeat “All Talk No Action” practically jumps with infectious pop energy, but Once in a Blue Moon mellows when warped pedal steel turns liquid in the dreamy title track and the country ballad “When the Past Caught Up with John Henry Weaving” is hit with hard reality and pained harmonica.

All the while, that raspy voice of Goddess’s tears biblical and historical references out of old books and expresses keen observations of life’s absurdities and struggles. Stumbling to make sense of the world, he lightheartedly explores mortality in “Exit Through the Gift Shop” amid a tight funk jam, but picks himself up in the lightly strummed and starry wonder “Chinatown,” a moving epic of building drama and bittersweet mood that looks skyward for salvation. He’s earned it. Here’s hoping the Dave Goddess Group comes around more than Once in a Blue Moon.

—Peter Lindblad