“Sentimental Junk” is the fifth solo album from songwriter/ guitarist Tom Guerra,
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It marks Tom's debut on indie label Thin Man Music. Prior releases include 2020's “Sudden Signs of Grace," ”American Garden” (2018), "Trampling Out the Vintage” (2016), and “All of the Above” (2014).
In addition to the ten new original songs contained on "Sentimental Junk,” the record features a cover of “Clean Cut Kid,” a 1983 Bob Dylan song. Said Guerra “I loved Dylan’s ‘Clean Cut Kid’ though I was curious to see how it might fare with a harder, straight-ahead rock and roll arrangement.”
Longtime collaborator Kenny Aaronson (Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Billy Idol, The Yardbirds, etc.) not only contributes bass to this effort, but also arranged the horns and strings on two of the songs. According to Aaronson, "Tom is a great songwriter. He has great pop sensibilities, and I really like his way of crafting a melody. He is a sensitive and keen observer of the human condition as one will hear in his lyrics."
Several tracks on the new album are harder edged, guitar-based rock and roll numbers, and "Eyes of the World," Guerra’s tribute to Leslie West, features a reunion with his longtime Mambo Sons bandmate, singer Scott Lawson Pomeroy.
Other tracks, including “Think forYourself,” “A Song for Mark Easton” (written about Tom's bandmate who died of Covid-19) and the aforementioned “California’s Got to My Girl” have strong roots in blues and R&B.
Recorded two years into the Covid-19 worldwide pandemic, Guerra (former Mambo Sons guitarist and Vintage Guitar Magazine writer) says that he finds writing therapeutic. “Being stuck inside for a couple years made us all a little restless, and I think that energy comes across on this record. It’s a good feeling to write, and people need music, especially during times like these.”-Peter Gerstenzang, Writer, NY Times.
