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Cranky crooner Lonesome Dan and his Curmugeons

Rafer Guzmán | WITH THE BAND

March 20, 2008

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He calls himself Lonesome Dan, and on his new self-titled album he swears the name fits: "Little children don't like me / Small dogs always bite / Everyone I meet, everyone I meet / Retreats."

But Patchogue's Dan Welsch sets these bitter lyrics against a wry, bouncy bass line and some spiffy blues guitar, letting the listener know it's all (or at least mostly) an act. And though he may be antisocial, he's found good company in his backing band, The Curmudgeons.

All of which makes "Lonesome Dan and The Curmudgeons" a morosely funny and terrifically refreshing disc. You could file it under blues, but it's not the usual genre workout; you could file it under singer-songwriter, but it's devoid of romantic hogwash. Welsch, with his amusingly bland voice and bummed-out delivery, belongs next to Loudon Wainwright III, Warren Zevon, Randy Newman and other dark-eyed satirists. He's somewhere between a bluesman and a stand-up comic (who, be warned, works a tad blue).

Welsch sings from the viewpoint of the eternal malcontent. When not sneering at people more successful than he ("Marry the Boss's Daughter"), he's griping about relationships ("Good in Bed") or enumerating the cold comforts of middle-age ("Me & My Old Lady"). In his hilarious ode to the crummy state of the world at large - set to an ironically sunny Caribbean beat - he even sneaks in a bit of poetry: "Winds of change keep blowing / Up and down my street / I'm just trying to hang on / To the ground beneath my feet." The title of that one speaks volumes: "Clouds of Joy."

Rafer Guzmán Bio | E-mail | Recent columns

What's great about Welsch is that he isn't trying to be anything he's not. Here's a guy with a voice that wouldn't survive a minute on " American Idol" and a hairline too far back for MTV. But Welsch turns it all to his advantage, crafting a persona that's appealing and distinctive. Check him out at MySpace (http://profile.myspace.com/ index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=330966271) - the guy could use some friends.