Kevin Bronson on May 11th, 2023

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Rounding up videos for songs from new releases by Junior Mesa, Butch Bastard and Sam Blasucci …

JUNIOR MESA, “You Are Alright”

Junior Mesa mines some deeply personal territory on his new EP, “Quit Your Job, Runaway!” (which came out last week via Nice Life Recording Co.), but none hits harder than the song “You Are Alright.” “I talk about my dad, an alcoholic, and share some of the thoughts and experiences I had growing up as his child and leading into my adulthood,” the Bakersfield-bred multimedia artist says. “It’s emotionally driven, but I wrote it in a way that’s hopeful and empathetic in the hopes that other people struggling with similar problems can find peace in my song.” … We’re really not getting all choked up here, we’re not. Nope. No way.

BUTCH BASTARD, “Las Vegas Salvation”

Songwriter Ian Murray — aka Butch Bastard — could have named his sophomore album “A Supposedly Fun Thing Called Living,” but he decided at first on “Elegy for the Baby Boomer” (we’d been waiting for a proper one of those) before changing midstream to “Las Vegas Salvation.” Wink. You know, Vegas … salvation. It’s brilliant. It’s got a misanthropic streak reminiscent of current tourmate Father John Misty, it sometimes reads like Beat poetry, and he writes about it far better than we could. He says: “Las Vegas has always been a point of fascination for me, and I used it as a muse for this album. It’s as though someone built a monument to Hell. Everything is bright, shiny and opulent on the veneer, but it’s a soulless place that preys on every human weakness. It’s a microcosm for America. You feel free and full of promise, but you are being watched, you are being played, you are a monkey in a lab. They will not let you win. I love going there, but to stay beyond 48 hours is nearly impossible. When I come home I feel depressed for a week. But I always go back. With this album, I wanted to bottle that feeling and dissect it.” Cinematographer Mike Immerman follows Murray around Vegas on a one-night tour of demission and his video almost makes you want to “wash away my sins … with a gallon of gasoline.”

SAM BLASUCCI, “Every Night on the Farm”

Sam Blasucci is one-half of the Americana duo Mapache, known for their finger-pickin’-good guitar finery. Blasucci’s solo album, “Off My Stars” (out June 2 via Innovative Leisure), was largely conceived on the piano, though, during a time the songwriter was riding out the pandemic in New Orleans. The album’s painterly songs — think classic American songbook rather that roots music — are packed with gentle but sophisticated observations on adult life. “Fully autobiographical,” he says. “Every Night on the Farm” is the last of the record’s four singles (see also “Turn Yourself Around,” “Sha La La” and his cover of the Cranberries’ “Linger”), and the video was filmed by Laura Lynn Petrick. Blasucci plays Permanent Records Roadhouse on July 28 and July 29.