Expected unexpected on Jack Oblivian's latest

Don Perry

Jack Yarber's latest album, "Rat City," is more sonically polished and musically diverse than anything in the veteran rocker's catalog.

Jack Yarber has a problem.

The Memphis garage-roots cult hero -- better known as Jack Oblivian -- is an artist burdened by an unusually high level of expectation.

Take, for example, Yarber's new record, Rat City. Set to be released this week, it's a more sonically polished and musically diverse album than anything in his catalog.

It's also an instant classic, a brilliantly realized collection of songs that move in manifold directions, from street-corner pop to sticky Southern rock. And yet, for Yarber, there's a fear that some of his longtime fans won't get it.

"Hopefully, this will be the record where people who keep expecting something will finally realize it's not going to be what they expect," says Yarber, who'll mark the release with a show Saturday at the Hi-Tone Café.

A three-decade veteran of the Memphis music scene, Yarber earned his reputation as a founder of influential trash and garage rock outfits like the Compulsive Gamblers and the Oblivians.

But since launching a solo career in the late-'90s, he's evolved his sound and songwriting, refashioning himself as a roots-music alchemist on albums like 2006's The Flipside Kid and 2009's The Disco Outlaw.

Shortly after Outlaw was released, Yarber began working on a new record for Mississippi label Big Legal Mess.

He quickly completed a handful of songs at Big Legal Mess head Bruce Watson's Water Valley, Miss, studio. "Those first songs came really fast. The plan was to go back in a few weeks and finish up an album. That was in 2009. What is it now? 2011?" says Yarber, laughing.

Yarber spent the next 18 months working on the album in fits and bursts, slowly coming up with new material in between tours. "Finally, Bruce said, 'Let's wrap this up,' and that's actually when I started coming up with all kinds of songs," says Yarber. "I felt like I had a deadline, so I got on a roll."

In all, Yarber cut some 19 tracks, 12 of which made the final album, from the Stooges-esque "Crime of Love" to the Stones-y dance floor-filler "Mass Confusion" to the Moog-flecked funk of "Old Folks Boogie."

"There are different styles of music on there -- but there were even more styles in the songs that didn't make the album. If we'd have put everything on, it would sound like a compilation of different bands," says Yarber. "(Among) the unreleased stuff there's a Stax-sounding instrumental, there's a slow harmonica blues that sounds like it's from 'The Rockford Files,' and a '70s heavy rock thing."

Although he did a few overdubs in Water Valley, and a few more at Scott Bomar's Electraphonic Studio in Memphis, mostly Yarber toiled away in his Midtown apartment, working and reworking the tracks on what he admits is an unsightly tangle of low-rent gear.

"The way I am, sometimes I don't get in a groove of recording until 5 or 5:30 in the morning. If you're trying to do that working on a clock in the studio, it's hard. So I do it at home instead."

"I don't want anyone to think I've got a fancy studio in there, though," adds Yarber. "If somebody broke into my place, they'd be confused. Where is this stuff at? All I see is a bunch of junk. He didn't record that (expletive) here!" says Yarber, laughing.

While Yarber readies his solo record for release, there's also some lingering business with his former group the Oblivians. The band reunited for a series of shows in 2009 and 2010, and even played a recent surprise in-store event at Goner Records.

Yarber looks at the band's return fondly, and says that there's still some motivation to write and record new material. "We did some of our best gigs ever the last couple years," he says. "When we first got back together, we were trying to write new songs. I don't think any of them stuck. We're still messing with the idea of doing some recording."

Meantime, Yarber has launched a Kickstarter page to help fund his European tour with fellow locals Harlan T. Bobo and Shawn Cripps of the Limes. He's also putting the finishing touches on a vinyl single for Rich Tupica's The Wind label.

"And that sounds really lo-fi. People who like the lo-fi stuff will enjoy that," says Yarber. "Actually, what I want to do next, if I do anything, is make a lo-fi record. I guess I'll always end up back doing that."

--------------------

Jack O. and the Tearjerkers, The Fuzz

Saturday, at the Hi-Tone Café, 1913 Poplar. Cover is $7. Doors open at 9 p.m. Go to hitonememphis.com, or call (901) 278-8663.

--------------------

© 2011 Go Memphis. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.