The Bottle Rockets
Encyclopedia
The Bottle Rockets are an American rock band
formed in 1992, currently based in St. Louis
, Missouri
. The founding members are Brian Henneman
(guitar, vocals), Mark Ortmann (drums), Tom Parr (1992–2002, guitar, vocals) and Tom Ray (1992–1997, bass guitar). Current members are Henneman, Ortmann, John Horton (joined 2003, guitar) and Keith Voegele(joined 2005, bass, vocals). Most members of the group have contributed compositions to their catalog of original songs, as have Robert Parr (Tom's brother) and schoolteacher Scott Taylor (who writes lyrics for some of Henneman's tunes).
As noted in the New York Times by William Hogeland, the Bottle Rockets' songwriting has been likened to Woody Guthrie
's folk style in spirit, smarts, and satire. The band's lyrics encapsulate the common experiences of the everyman, and are set to rousing and searing rock 'n' roll.
Considered to be the leaders of the '90s alt-country/roots rock
revival along with peers Uncle Tupelo
, the Bottle Rockets are contemporary storytellers from Middle America. Their songs with strong social commentary reflect their influences of Woody Guthrie
, Neil Young
and The Replacements.
The Bottle Rockets released their self-titled first album in 1993. The Brooklyn Side followed on East Side Digital, in 1994, to resounding critical acclaim. In 1995, the Bottle Rockets then signed with Atlantic Records
, which re-released The Brooklyn Side. The single "Radar Gun" was a hit on rock radio—reaching #27 on Billboards rock chart—and the band toured extensively to support the album. The band appeared on the television show Late Night with Conan O'Brien
performing one of their original songs as well as being featured in a comedic skit. The relationship with Atlantic Records turned out to be difficult. Most of the original staff who promoted The Brooklyn Side had been laid off or fired from Atlantic. The release of the Bottle Rockets' next record, 24 Hours A Day, was delayed until late 1997. The band parted ways with Atlantic in 1998.
The Bottle Rockets are featured in the PBS
documentary
The Mississippi River Of Song: The Grassroots of American Music. In the series, which is narrated by Ani DiFranco
, Brian Henneman says that he and the band are “reporters from the heartland” writing stories about their friends. Their music combines singer-songwriter poignancy with authenticity, commentary and wit. The Bottle Rockets performed live at the Smithsonian Institution
in Washington, DC at the premiere for the film, and also appear on the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings soundtrack.
Bottle Rockets then signed with Doolittle records, which later became New West Records
. Doolittle released an EP
of outtakes from 24 Hours A Day called Leftovers in 1998. About this time, Tom Ray was replaced on bass by Robert Kearns
. The Bottle Rockets' fourth full length record, Brand New Year, was released on Doolittle in 1999. "Power hooks and muscular guitar fights that would make Skynyrd proud" and "'70s power rock with a dirty edge—sort of ZZ Top
meets Lynyrd Skynyrd
meets Bad Company
" is the calling card of Brand New Year.
, which came out on Chicago
label Bloodshot Records in early 2002. Shortly after finishing this record, Parr left the band. Bottle Rockets toured as a three-piece for a while, and recorded their fifth full-length record Blue Sky (which was released in 2003 on the Sanctuary label), before adding multi-instrumentalist John Horton to the band.
Kearns amicably split with the band in the spring of 2005. After a brief search the Bottle Rockets named Keith Voegele as their new bassist. Voegele is from Saint Louis and has played in bands including the Phonocaptors.
After the Bottle Rockets' promising eponymous debut, having a radio hit ("Radar Gun") on their second album, extensive touring, and resounding critical acclaim, the band endured a decade of subsequent hard luck (including having their career held hostage to a staggering series of record companies they'd had contracts with that folded and/or floundered, a UPS strike holding up distribution of one of their new records, band personnel changes, and family emergencies during prominent tours). Concurrent with the band's business difficulties, grunge
and alternative rock
meteorically came to prominence and dominated popular culture, becoming the corporate mainstream rather than the alternative. As a result, the music industry effectively abandoned traditional rock artists who were building a legacy of work, in favor of marketing trendy carbon-copy quick-commercial-turnaround acts. The path Henneman and the Bottle Rockets had been on seemed to disappear.
Despite those struggles, in 2005 the Bottle Rockets stabilized from the upheavals with their good nature and trailblazing edge intact. Founders Brian Henneman and Mark Ortmann got the band back on course, along with the newest additions John Horton and Keith Voegele, the current line-up of band members. The band also re-hired their manager from the early days, Bob Andrews.
Bloodshot Records
released the band's next album, Zoysia, recorded in Ardent Studios in Memphis
with producer Jeff Powell
, in June 2006. Zoysia
(zoy-zhuh), a metaphor for tolerance and centered values and common ground, is a hardy grass, plentiful in Festus/Crystal City and Saint Louis, Missouri, where these hardworking musicians grew up. After years of misleading portrayals of the band's music as "hillbilly", the band's catalog proves otherwise with themes of maturity, generosity of spirit, neighborliness, insightful self-reflection, personal roots and modern society, individualism, pride of place, slow-mending hearts, and post-9/11 reality through the filter of a couple’s romance. After more than their share of hard knocks, the Bottle Rockets continued with their trailblazing edge intact with Zoysia:
Zoysia received rave reviews worldwide including a spot on novelist/audiophile
Stephen King
's Best Records of 2006 list in Entertainment Weekly magazine.
The Bottle Rockets' reputation as the underdog spokesmen translated into a collaboration with fans in 2008. Fans of the Bottle Rockets had a voice in the band’s 15th Anniversary Tour, having been invited to design set lists for the 2008 tour from the Bottle Rockets’ catalog plus one cover song suggestion. The band hand-picked a fan’s set list for each of the special anniversary shows and entered the set list winners in a year-long contest to win one of 2 grand prizes, a $1500.00 custom Golden Rocket guitar by Creston Electric Instruments
or the “Bottle Rockets for life” prize package.
The results of the first such collaboration were detailed by Roy Kasten and Barry Gilbert in their reviews of the performance, in the Riverfront Times and the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch, respectively.
While other artists have covered Bottle Rockets’ songs, including John Hiatt
, (Hiatt recorded “Welfare Music” for Don Imus
’ Ranch Record), Peter Blackstock of No Depression
implores:
In July 2008, The Bottle Rockets reunited with producer Eric Ambel
(Brooklyn Side, 24 Hours A Day, Leftovers, Brand New Year) at his Cowboy Technical Services Recording Studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York for their latest album, Lean Forward (Bloodshot).
release. The set list included "Hard Times," "Done It All," "Shame On Me," "Give Me Room," "Way It Used to Be" and "The Long Way" from the then-forthcoming Lean Forward album.
Lean Forward was released by Bloodshot Records. The album charted on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart at #23.
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
formed in 1992, currently based in St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
. The founding members are Brian Henneman
Brian Henneman
Brian Henneman is an alt-country/roots rock musician best known as the frontman for the Bottle Rockets, as a songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist. Artists such as John Prine, Neil Young and Merle Haggard have influenced his songwriting style. Henneman began his musical career in the mid-1980s...
(guitar, vocals), Mark Ortmann (drums), Tom Parr (1992–2002, guitar, vocals) and Tom Ray (1992–1997, bass guitar). Current members are Henneman, Ortmann, John Horton (joined 2003, guitar) and Keith Voegele(joined 2005, bass, vocals). Most members of the group have contributed compositions to their catalog of original songs, as have Robert Parr (Tom's brother) and schoolteacher Scott Taylor (who writes lyrics for some of Henneman's tunes).
As noted in the New York Times by William Hogeland, the Bottle Rockets' songwriting has been likened to Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
's folk style in spirit, smarts, and satire. The band's lyrics encapsulate the common experiences of the everyman, and are set to rousing and searing rock 'n' roll.
Considered to be the leaders of the '90s alt-country/roots rock
Roots rock
Roots rock is a term now used to describe rock music that looks back to rock's origins in folk, blues and country music. It is particularly associated with the creation of hybrid sub-genres from the later 1960s including country rock and Southern rock, which have been seen as responses to the...
revival along with peers Uncle Tupelo
Uncle Tupelo
Uncle Tupelo was an alternative country music group from Belleville, Illinois, active between 1987 and 1994. Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, and Mike Heidorn formed the band after the lead singer of their previous band, The Primitives, left to attend college. The trio recorded three albums for Rockville...
, the Bottle Rockets are contemporary storytellers from Middle America. Their songs with strong social commentary reflect their influences of Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
, Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
and The Replacements.
The 1990s
For much of the Nineties, Missouri's Bottle Rockets were the torchbearers for smart Southern-style rock.—Mark KempMark KempMark Kemp is an American music journalist and author. A graduate of East Carolina University, he has served as music editor of Rolling Stone and vice president of music editorial for MTV Networks...
, Rolling StoneRolling StoneRolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
The Bottle Rockets released their self-titled first album in 1993. The Brooklyn Side followed on East Side Digital, in 1994, to resounding critical acclaim. In 1995, the Bottle Rockets then signed with Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
, which re-released The Brooklyn Side. The single "Radar Gun" was a hit on rock radio—reaching #27 on Billboards rock chart—and the band toured extensively to support the album. The band appeared on the television show Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien that aired 2,725 episodes on NBC between 1993 and 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and comedy performances. Late Night aired weeknights at 12:37 am...
performing one of their original songs as well as being featured in a comedic skit. The relationship with Atlantic Records turned out to be difficult. Most of the original staff who promoted The Brooklyn Side had been laid off or fired from Atlantic. The release of the Bottle Rockets' next record, 24 Hours A Day, was delayed until late 1997. The band parted ways with Atlantic in 1998.
The Bottle Rockets are featured in the PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
The Mississippi River Of Song: The Grassroots of American Music. In the series, which is narrated by Ani DiFranco
Ani DiFranco
Ani DiFranco is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, guitarist, poet, and songwriter. She has released more than 20 albums, and is widely considered a feminist icon.-Biography:...
, Brian Henneman says that he and the band are “reporters from the heartland” writing stories about their friends. Their music combines singer-songwriter poignancy with authenticity, commentary and wit. The Bottle Rockets performed live at the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
in Washington, DC at the premiere for the film, and also appear on the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings soundtrack.
Bottle Rockets then signed with Doolittle records, which later became New West Records
New West Records
New West Records is a record label based in Los Angeles, California, Austin, Texas, and Athens, Georgia. It was established in 1998, and has been home to several indie rock and alternative country bands as well as representing the PBS show Austin City Limits...
. Doolittle released an EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
of outtakes from 24 Hours A Day called Leftovers in 1998. About this time, Tom Ray was replaced on bass by Robert Kearns
Robert Kearns (musician)
Robert Kearns is an American bassist who has played with several notable bands. He is from Conover, NC.He was a founding member of Cry of Love from 1989 until 1997 and went on to join The Bottle Rockets from 1998 until 2005. In 2009 he was named to be the touring substitute for a cancer stricken...
. The Bottle Rockets' fourth full length record, Brand New Year, was released on Doolittle in 1999. "Power hooks and muscular guitar fights that would make Skynyrd proud" and "'70s power rock with a dirty edge—sort of ZZ Top
ZZ Top
ZZ Top is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "That Little Ol' Band from Texas". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based boogie rock, has come to incorporate elements of arena, southern, and boogie rock. The band, from Houston Texas, formed in 1969...
meets Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd is an American rock band prominent in spreading Southern Rock during the 1970s.Originally formed as the "Noble Five" in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1964, the band rose to worldwide recognition on the basis of its driving live performances and signature tune, Freebird...
meets Bad Company
Bad Company
Bad Company were an English rock supergroup founded in 1973, consisting of two former Free band members — singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke — as well as Mott the Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs and King Crimson bassist Boz Burrell. Peter Grant, who, in years prior, was a key component of...
" is the calling card of Brand New Year.
2000-2005
The band again had problems with their record label, and did not record anything else until Songs of Sahm, a collection of songs by Doug SahmDoug Sahm
Douglas Wayne Sahm , was an American musician from Texas. Born in San Antonio, Texas, he was a child prodigy in country music, but became a significant figure in blues rock and other genres. Today Sahm is considered one of the most important figures in what is identified as Tejano music...
, which came out on Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
label Bloodshot Records in early 2002. Shortly after finishing this record, Parr left the band. Bottle Rockets toured as a three-piece for a while, and recorded their fifth full-length record Blue Sky (which was released in 2003 on the Sanctuary label), before adding multi-instrumentalist John Horton to the band.
Kearns amicably split with the band in the spring of 2005. After a brief search the Bottle Rockets named Keith Voegele as their new bassist. Voegele is from Saint Louis and has played in bands including the Phonocaptors.
After the Bottle Rockets' promising eponymous debut, having a radio hit ("Radar Gun") on their second album, extensive touring, and resounding critical acclaim, the band endured a decade of subsequent hard luck (including having their career held hostage to a staggering series of record companies they'd had contracts with that folded and/or floundered, a UPS strike holding up distribution of one of their new records, band personnel changes, and family emergencies during prominent tours). Concurrent with the band's business difficulties, grunge
Grunge
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...
and alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
meteorically came to prominence and dominated popular culture, becoming the corporate mainstream rather than the alternative. As a result, the music industry effectively abandoned traditional rock artists who were building a legacy of work, in favor of marketing trendy carbon-copy quick-commercial-turnaround acts. The path Henneman and the Bottle Rockets had been on seemed to disappear.
Despite those struggles, in 2005 the Bottle Rockets stabilized from the upheavals with their good nature and trailblazing edge intact. Founders Brian Henneman and Mark Ortmann got the band back on course, along with the newest additions John Horton and Keith Voegele, the current line-up of band members. The band also re-hired their manager from the early days, Bob Andrews.
2006-2007
The Bottle Rockets' first live album Live in Heilbronn Germany was released in February 2006. The double-disc set was recorded on July 17, 2005 at the Burgerhaus, Heilbronn-Bockingen, Germany with the band's current roster. It was released in Europe on CD and vinyl by Blue Rose Records.Bloodshot Records
Bloodshot Records
Bloodshot Records is an independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois which specializes in roots-inflected indie rock, punk blues, and a Chicago brand of outlaw country...
released the band's next album, Zoysia, recorded in Ardent Studios in Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
with producer Jeff Powell
Jeff Powell
Jeffrey Howard Campbell Powell is a Canadian rower. He began rowing in 1996 and is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario. He won the gold medal at both the 2002 and 2003 world championships for Canada's men's eight team in Milan, Italy and Seville, Spain respectively. In 2004 he competed...
, in June 2006. Zoysia
Zoysia
Zoysia is a genus of creeping grasses native to southeast and east Asia and Australasia. These species, commonly called zoysia or zoysiagrass, are found in coastal areas or grasslands. The genus is named after the Austrian botanist Karl von Zois.-Species:*Zoysia japonica Steud.*Zoysia macrantha...
(zoy-zhuh), a metaphor for tolerance and centered values and common ground, is a hardy grass, plentiful in Festus/Crystal City and Saint Louis, Missouri, where these hardworking musicians grew up. After years of misleading portrayals of the band's music as "hillbilly", the band's catalog proves otherwise with themes of maturity, generosity of spirit, neighborliness, insightful self-reflection, personal roots and modern society, individualism, pride of place, slow-mending hearts, and post-9/11 reality through the filter of a couple’s romance. After more than their share of hard knocks, the Bottle Rockets continued with their trailblazing edge intact with Zoysia:
It would be a mistake to claim that Missouri's answer to Neil Young's Crazy Horse has gone soft but their first release in more than three years shows greater range and reflection than is typical for the rock-solid quartet. The opening "Better Than Broken", the brooding "Happy Anniversary", and the acoustic wistful "Where I Come From" all evoke the aftermath of romantic upheaval.... "Middle Man" could be the band's signature tune defining a sensibility that is Middle American in more than geography. The sage wisdom of frontman Brian Henneman's "Blind" and the twang of "Feeling Down" show the band's countrier side while "I Quit" has the groove of retro soul. Yet the guitar finale of the seven-minute album-closing title song ["Zoysia"] finds the Bottle Rockets as explosive as ever. —Don McLeese
Zoysia received rave reviews worldwide including a spot on novelist/audiophile
Audiophile
An audiophile is a person who enjoys listening to recorded music, usually in a home. Some audiophiles are more interested in collecting and listening to music, while others are more interested in collecting and listening to audio components, whose "sound quality" they consider as important as the...
Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
's Best Records of 2006 list in Entertainment Weekly magazine.
2008: 15th Anniversary Year
The band celebrated its 15th anniversary throughout 2008. Instead of extensive touring like in previous years, the band played only 15 shows in select cities during the entire year.The Bottle Rockets' reputation as the underdog spokesmen translated into a collaboration with fans in 2008. Fans of the Bottle Rockets had a voice in the band’s 15th Anniversary Tour, having been invited to design set lists for the 2008 tour from the Bottle Rockets’ catalog plus one cover song suggestion. The band hand-picked a fan’s set list for each of the special anniversary shows and entered the set list winners in a year-long contest to win one of 2 grand prizes, a $1500.00 custom Golden Rocket guitar by Creston Electric Instruments
Creston Electric Instruments
Based in Burlington, Vermont, Creston Electric Instruments produces vintage-style custom solid body and chambered electric guitars and basses. Known to players as "Crestons", these guitars are sometimes made using unconventional woods for bodies such as Sugar Pine and Hickory...
or the “Bottle Rockets for life” prize package.
The results of the first such collaboration were detailed by Roy Kasten and Barry Gilbert in their reviews of the performance, in the Riverfront Times and the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch, respectively.
While other artists have covered Bottle Rockets’ songs, including John Hiatt
John Hiatt
John Hiatt is an American rock guitarist, pianist, singer, and songwriter. He has played a variety of musical styles on his albums, including New Wave, blues and country. Hiatt has been nominated for several Grammy Awards - although he has never won- and has been awarded a variety of other...
, (Hiatt recorded “Welfare Music” for Don Imus
Don Imus
John Donald "Don" Imus, Jr. is an American radio host, humorist, philanthropist and writer. His nationally-syndicated talk show, Imus in the Morning, is broadcast throughout the United States by Citadel Media and relayed on television by the Fox Business Network.-Personal life:Imus was born in...
’ Ranch Record), Peter Blackstock of No Depression
No Depression (periodical)
No Depression was a bi-monthly magazine that covered a broad range of roots music, including alternative country and Americana.-History:...
implores:
“...somebody, SOMEBODY record [the Bottle Rockets’ song] “Kerosene” on your next album. Big band, little band, countryCountry musicCountry music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
band, rockRock musicRock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band,...punkPunk rockPunk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band,...somebody just get smart and give this song the respect, and legs, it deserves."
In July 2008, The Bottle Rockets reunited with producer Eric Ambel
Eric Ambel
Eric Ambel is a New York City-based guitarist and record producer, originally from Batavia, Illinois. He has worked with a wide range of artists including Steve Earle, the Yayhoos, Del Lords, The Bottle Rockets, Joan Jett, Mojo Nixon, Blood Oranges, Blue Mountain, Freedy Johnston and Mary Lee's...
(Brooklyn Side, 24 Hours A Day, Leftovers, Brand New Year) at his Cowboy Technical Services Recording Studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York for their latest album, Lean Forward (Bloodshot).
2009
On May 2, The Bottle Rockets played a special concert at the High Dive in Champaign, IL that was filmed for an upcoming live concert documentary DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
release. The set list included "Hard Times," "Done It All," "Shame On Me," "Give Me Room," "Way It Used to Be" and "The Long Way" from the then-forthcoming Lean Forward album.
Lean Forward was released by Bloodshot Records. The album charted on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart at #23.
Discography
- Bottle Rockets, 1992
- The Brooklyn Side, 1994, re-released 1995
- 24 Hours A Day, 1997
- Leftovers, 1998
- Brand New Year, 1999
- Songs of Sahm, 2002
- Blue Sky, 2003
- Live in Heilbronn Germany, 2006
- Zoysia, 2006
- Lean Forward, 2009
- Not So Loud, 2011
Videography
- Bottle Rockets Live in Heilbronn, Germany. Blue Rose
- The Mississippi River Of Song: The Grassroots of American Music. Smithsonian Institution and the Filmmakers Collaborative.