¡Let Freedom Ring!

Chuck Prophet sings with a rocker’s rasp that’s pure attitude and street smarts. The former Green On Red singer captures the raw feel of a man keeping copious notes on his surroundings and committing them to tape in the most honest fashion possible for 2009. Producer Greg Leisz hunkered down with Prophet in Mexico City and over eight days crafted the loose pieces into a cohesive whole. The band’s jagged feel adds a sense of immediate purpose to tunes such as the anthemic title track, the swooning, conversational blues of “You and Me Baby (Holding Out)” where Prophet sounds like the late Jim Carroll channeling the ancient blues singers of the Mississippi Delta or at least Randy Newman after a rough day. “American Man” motors with a sleek confidence. Drummer Ernest “Boom” Carter, who powered Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run,” keeps things in the pocket and moving forward, as the immigration tale of “Barely Exist” and the salute to a much- misunderstood boxer (“Sonny Liston’s Blues”) add to Prophet’s engrossing tales of people finding their uncomfortable place in the world.