Ten years into their career, Murfreesboro, TN rock denizens Glossary have learned a few things. The band’s latest offering of bleeding heart defiance and optimism, The Better Angels of Our Nature, represents those attributes in both exhibition and execution. Rather than suffer the trappings of the record industry’s broken business model, the latest chapter in Glossary’s long legacy is available directly from the band completely free of charge. No strings attached, no cut corners, no hassle – just a band enthusiastic about what they’re doing. From the opening lilt of “Only Tell Will Tell” to the matter-of-fact declaration of “I’m still holding on to rock ‘n roll” on album closer “Blood On the Knobs,” there’s plenty on Better Angels about which to be excited. Having crashed the Glossary website the day of release due to the sheer volume of downloads, the band’s fifth full-length finds the septet ascending even higher above their simple Southern roots — exploring the beauty, nuance, conflict and contradictions of life in Dixie. The vitality found in these songs transcends whatever medium through which they might be presented, putting Glossary in a position of utmost importance during a cross-section in music’s history. The Better Angels of Our Nature will also be made available on CD on Oct 23, pressed in a series of short runs featuring artwork courtesy of local Middle Tennessee artists and designers, with a vinyl release to follow in early 2008. http://www.glossary.us/ Listen at Last.fm
Some local bands build a buzz and a following until they get a crack at going national. Other local bands, like Murfreesboro, TN's Glossary, keep at it year after year because something needs to be expressed, even if no more than a few thousand people ever hear it. Those bands are the rock equivalent of regional filmmakers, turning out low-budget, heartfelt stories that zero in on lifestyles and locations that the mainstream media overlooks.

Three years after knocking out the restless Southern-rock epic How We Handle Our Midnights, Glossary has scraped together enough money to make For What I Don't Become, with the help of Centro-Matic studio whiz Matt Pence. Like the previous album, the new one is full of loud, anthemic songs sparked with plenty of twang and chug. It's also another album about people who work hard and don't seem to get anywhere. For What I Don't Become's centerpiece song is "Days Go By," a sprawling, scorching twang-rocker that makes the title phrase more haunting by adding the words "even when we don't want 'em to."

For What I Don't Become weighs its rootsy kick against a strong note of loneliness on songs like "Headstones And Dead Leaves" and the molten ballad "The Reckless," but the dominant tone of the album is set by the opening song "Shaking Like A Flame," which rumbles like a locomotive even as Kneiser sings about how it feels to rust. This may be one of the most exultant albums ever made about failure.