Vanguard

Stephen Kellogg & The Sixers present a modern take on heartland rock with their fifth studio album, Gift Horse. While the Massachusetts quartet doesn’t take as many risks as they did on 2009’s The Bear, the familiarityin the music establishes a comforting vehicle for Kellogg’s narratives The 11 tracks create a scrapbook of his life, from remembering grandfatherly advice ( “Who We Are, Who We’ll Become” ) to falling in love with his wife ( “1993” ). But Kellogg isn’t nostalgic for the past. He appreciates the present – his family, his career, his life – in these uncertain times. The most poignant moment on the album comes on “Song For Lovers” when he sings, “Now, I don’t believe in Jesus as anything but a man/ And I worry that religion is doing less good than bad/ And I know that that makes a lot of good people mad.”