Bryn Loosley

The frontman for popular Chico band Buffalo Creek sings of being a victim of women’s scorn on his solo debut, but his past amorous missteps only seem to suggest that eventually he’ll find his true love. Bryn Loosley, whose Glenn Frey-reminiscent vocals are adequate though not dazzling, enlists the help of some local friends and regional heavy hitters on The Wrecker, which alternates from jangly alt-pop rockers to Americana-tinged ballads. Jackie Greene plays organ on one track, and Mother Hips-ster Tim Bluhm offers backup vocals on a couple more. Buffalo Creek sidekick Nick Bearden also helps out, as well as Audley Freed (formerly with Black Crowes), and Chico’s own Marquesa Versola. “Rosalie” finds Loosley at his most confident, carrying out a love song as talking poetry with a country twang. But one gets the feeling that pop-rocker “Amber Eyes” describes Loosley’s thus-far elusive quest for true love. “By the morning light you were history,” he laments. “Who would steal those pills and key my car and leave me a bill for the mini-bar?” While Loosley moved to Portland a couple of years ago, Chico is part of his consciousness. In “Honeyrun Road,” the pedal-steel-accompanied ballad mentions quail and a “swim in the creek” as Loosley pines for yet another past love.