Ted Wulfers: Cheap Liquor

Ted Wulfers lives in a hard drinkin’, hard lovin’, hard livin’ world — all of which comes out on his eight-song mini-album, Cheap Liquor. These are songs about relationships as they start (“She Bought Me a Drink”), how they break apart (“I Got Home Late”), and their messy end (“Lil’ Wilma”). And, most importantly for Wulfers, these are songs about drinking. “When I get drunk, I got to Wisconsin,” he sings on “Fishnet Woman”, a boogie-rock anthem that Pat Travers would probably have embraced in the ’70s. In the end, that’s the main trouble with Cheap Liqour. While the songs are enjoyable to listen to, it never seemed like I was listening to Ted Wulfers. Instead, I thought I was listening to Wulfers play music of some of his favorites. For an artist who claims to have more than 500 songs to his credit, you would think some of them would be, well, original. Still, Cheap Liquor provides some nice thrills, from the country-rock swagger of “S.W.E.L.L.” and “Fishnet Woman” to the contemplative tone of “I Got Home Late” and “L.S.D. Survival Song.” Just don’t expect much more.