Hit the bar with Deer Tick

Deer Tick, featuring John McCauley, will be appearing at 9 p.m. Tuesday at Artifice.

John McCauley’s voice sounds a lot like he looks: endearingly ragged, boozy and well-worn, like a favorite old T-shirt.

The Deer Tick singer-guitarist-songwriter is a young dude, still in his 20s, but he’s been touring the country since he was a teenager and you can hear it in his music, which is largely the byproduct of loose living, late nights, crushed beer cans and hearts alike and more than a few modestly distressed hotel rooms, most likely.

McCauley’s tunes were originally heavily indebted to Hank Williams, but have taken on more of blustery rock ’n’ roll bent on the band’s most recent disc, “Diving Providence,” where Deer Tick’s rootsy romanticism gives way to a full-throated, fully loaded, early Replacements-worthy racket.

One of the best songs on the album is party-till-you-puke-then-party-some-more sing-along “Let’s All Go to the Bar,” which isn’t meant to suggest that these dudes ever left it for very long to begin with.

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at
jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476.