Bob Schneider

Because press materials still refer to this Austin singer-songwriter’s last release, I’m Good Now, as his third solo album, it might be a good time to refresh ourselves on the bands whence Bob Schneider came before his career momentum obscures them completely. Fans of H.O.R.D.E. culture might remember his three-record stint in the Ugly Americans, a jam band that may have power-boiled but never overcooked its noodling. Parallel to this, he fronted a side project called The Scabs that took itself even less seriously, with self-explanatory allegories like “Fuck Me” and “Hanging Out With the Horny Girls.” From there, Schneider started going it alone, with a series of enjoyable, mostly acoustic work that takes the singer-songwriter confessional route but never gets trapped in a precious, introverted corner. And like the anything-goes atmosphere of his band work, he jumps around from acoustic funk to Americana to adult contemporary with less self-love than Jason Mraz but more self-deprecation than Dave Matthews.