Jackson Free Press

Eric Stracener knew he wanted to make his second CD different from his first. For Stracener's long-time fans, and the new ones, the new ground broken in "The Trickbag" is sure to delight.

Stracener got the title from his day job, at the law firm of Baria, Stracener and Hawkins. "It's a phrase I heard my law partner, David Baria, use sometimes, as in 'that guy's trying to put one over on me, trying to put me in his trickbag.' For me, it's got a double meaning because this record is way, way different from the last one. It shows what else is in my bag of tricks," Stracener said. From "Elizabeth" to "Somehow," Stracener hopes listeners find songs that resonate for them, musically as well as lyrically.

"That's the goal; it doesn't have to be profound. I just want it to evoke something and be original," Stracener said. He knows his lyrics, even his titles, mean different things to different people, and that's fine with him.

Stracener described the 11 musicians who joined him on the CD as fun, generous, tasteful, lucky, skilled, proficient, incredible and cool. Denny Burkes, drums and percussion; Steave Deaton, electric guitar; and John Hawkins, electric bass, bear the name "The Frustrations." Why? Stracener laughed and explained: "It's just the right number of syllables, like Elvis Costello and the Attractions."

Since I got my copy a few weeks ago, I've played it in the Buick, on the PC, on the iBook. I even found myself singing along out loud in the library at my school, just as a student came through the door. "The Trickbag" is that infectious, in a way that makes me see visions with some songs.

"Always Leaving" evokes images of youngsters slowly twirling around, long hair flying in a sort of slow motion, slender arms slowing rising and falling as Stracener tells the story of a relationship doomed from the beginning. It sounds like the sure-footed one in the couple left, if you believe this part of the description: "You act like an arrow leaving a bow." "Restless" seems a cry from someone suffering the loss of a loved one, with a Steve Deaton guitar solo that cries out in Mark Knopfler-like perfection. "Don't you miss us? Don't you need us for old times' sake?" Stracener asks.

I've listened to the mournful "Mobile Blues" over and over; before long I began to see the same thing every time, sort of like watching a song's video in the rotation on early MTV. It's set in the days before parents buckled their kids in seatbelts and bright lights illuminated highways in cities, making an artificial day out of night. The music makes me see a young boy, his head resting sideways on his arm at the window in the backseat of a lone car. The car travels that stretch of highway that takes him to his home in Mobile. It's late at night. The car appears and disappears as it goes from streetlight to streetlight, rubber tires rolling down the highway with spinning metal wheels that glint in the light and dull in the dark. The boy's eyes stare without blinking, his mind filled with private dreams.

"Diamond Round Your Neck" makes me want to find a tall, well-muscled man who can dance. I want to two-step across the floor, twirling along with the guitar, keeping time with the drums, almost swooning at the electric slide guitar. I'd put this one on continuous play all by itself if I were dancing with the right man. Stracener wrote it in about five minutes, at his downtown desk, when the words, progressions and music just came to him. "I even had notes on the paper for what instruments I wanted; it happens that way sometimes, but not other times. Other times it takes more work," Stracener explained.

Stracener didn't study music, and he cannot read or write it. He credits his musicianship to a decent ear that lets him remember how things sound, as well as the fact that he listens to a lot of music.

"I'm curious to see how folks will receive this one. It's definitely a little more complex sonically and with arrangements for the instruments. I like it better. I hope other folks do," Stracener told me.

"The Trickbag" release party takes place March 10 in Hal & Mal's Red Room at 8 p.m. Pay $10 at the door and take possession of your own copy of the new CD. The evening gets underway with local-once-again musician and performance artist Mark Roemer. You won't believe the tricks he's got up his sleeve, nor will you want to miss "The Trickbag" performed live on the Red Room stage.