Guy meets band

The going line on Stook is he's a trend-ignoring, guy's-guy kind of rock 'n' roller. I got a closer look at exactly what kind of guy he is last week after he got off work at a holding company:

• The kind who orders a Grain Belt Premium at a bar with 15 fancier beers on tap.

• The kind who cites the Replacements, Jayhawks and Twins as the reason he moved to Minneapolis from a midsize Indiana town in 2001.

• The kind who, when asked about the singer he's most often compared to (Tom Petty), doesn't do what 95 percent of cool young rockers do and deny the influence.

• The kind who rolls his eyes when asked to explain a song's meaning.

• The kind who rushes an interview with the biggest newspaper in the five-state area because he's in a hurry to make it to the Mad Ripple Hootenanny (as a fan, not a performer).

"I'm just another white guy who sings through his nose," said the songwriter known to his mother as Joshua Stuckey, 29. "Fortunately for me, people in this town really support that sort of thing."

Indeed they do. With about as much promotion as it took to sell a Hannah Montana ticket last weekend (i.e., close to nada), his first CD under his nickname Stook, 2005's "Soundtrack to My Minneapolis," wound up on many local critics' year-end lists and sold roughly 1,680 more copies than needed to break even on recording costs (yep, about 1,700).

The truly basement-taped record was effortlessly charming, full of scrappy but not punky, regular-joe rock 'n' roll, with irregularly great lyrics and the kind of lovable nasal twang not heard on a local album since Slim Dunlap stopped making 'em. Save for about $20 more for production, those same traits spill over beautifully onto his second album, "When the Needle Hits the Wax," which he's promoting tonight at the Varsity Theater, a dual CD party with Dan Israel.

Asked whether the strong reception for the first disc added any confidence or momentum to second effort, Stook (or "Stook!" on his album covers) replied, "Nah." He gave the opposite response to a query if he thinks living in the Twin Cities has heavily influenced his songwriting: "Yeah, probably."

It clearly has. With a transplant's bright-eyed view, Stook is able to find poetry in the dreariness that sets in during the dog days of our winters, which he does in the languid and lazily pretty new gem "Seasonal Affective Disorder." He also soaks up the dirt and danger and despair found late at night on Minneapolis' nearest thing to a strip in the gritty rocker "Hennepin Avenue."

Many other tracks on the new album are grade-A guy-misses-girl, girl-confuses-guy fare, including the surprisingly elegant "13th Shade of Blue" and the hootenanny sing-along "How Long We Gonna Dance?" Those tracks also show off the competing tight vs. loose sides of Stook's band, the Jukes. They're the same guys from the first album, including Stook's former roommate, bassist Caleb Garn, who helped start it all.

"I started out [locally] playing in cover bands, which was fun for about a week," Stook said. "Caleb and I eventually got to thinking, 'It'd be fun to make a record, something we could maybe show our grandchildren 40 years from now.' That's all it was."

He seems content not making it much more than that: "We don't play a lot of shows, because it keeps it fun. We're all from working-musicians backgrounds. We don't want to work too hard and spoil it."

Definitely my kind of guy.

Israel's 'Turning' on

Mark my words: Someday, somebody with a better singing voice than Dan Israel's durable but undistinguished rasp will record an entire album of his songs and do great with it. JoAnna James has already done well covering "Waiting So Long." Until that day, Israel's own discs will more than suffice, including "Turning," the new Eclectone disc he's promoting tonight.

A proper Dan Israel tribute CD would include more than a few tunes from "Turning," including the would-be radio hit "Counting on You" and the softer, hum-ready opener "Triangle." Becoming a dad and/or nearing middle age has added sophistication to his contemplative songs, including the contented-sounding title track and "6/20 Song." Backers on the disc include Marc Perlman, John Munson, Jessy Greene and, in the not-too-Bono-like "Song for Africa," Molly Maher, Andra Suchy and Janey Winterbauer.

Random mix

Whether or not writing a song called "89.3" is a great ploy for radio play, those Death Cab/Bright Eyes-loving guys in the Glad Version did just that for their third CD, "Make Islands." The lyrics have little to do with the station in question (I think it's about being in a band), but it's one of many cuts that should get played on any station with an active music blog and a cool British DJ. Those include the frantically poppy "Ambulance," the gorgeous and icy anthem "Cougars" and the big-chorus builder "Under the Pines." The release party is Saturday at the 400 Bar. ...

Even though he added more musical flourishes to great effect on his new Brian Deck-produced CD, "Paper Sky," Ben Weaver has gone the other direction and whittled out the music altogether on his new book of poems and drawings, "Hand Me Downs Are Haunted." Look for it at BenWeaver.net or his gig Monday at the Cedar Cultural Center with Erin McKeown. ...

As expected, Dan Wilson followed up last week's Bryant-Lake Bowl solo gigs by booking a bigger venue with a band. Tickets for his Dec. 7 show at the Guthrie go on sale today at 10 a.m. ... Arcwelder plays one of its semiannual or so gigs tonight at 7th Street Entry. ... Another arty hard-rock band, Self-Evident, celebrates its 10th anniversary at the Triple Rock tonight. ...

The Triple Rock's Halloween-night lineup includes Guns 'N Roses, Neil Diamond and Corrosion of Conformity. Of course, I mean that those are the roles being played by certain mystery bands that night, but that's pretty much what you get at a real GNR show these days, anyway.

chrisr@startribune.com • 612-673-4658