Heretics & Privateers

John Kay, leader of one of rock's most venerable bands, Steppenwolf, has returned to the folk/blues roots of his troubador days with the release of his fourth solo recording "Heretics and Privateers". The musical subtlety and emotional depth of the albums 12 composistions feature provacative lyrics which offer a gritty view of contemporary life, surveying the human toll of institutional callousness with unflinching clarity.

Kay's lyrics aren't the gripes of a chronic malcontect but the deeply felt observations of a first-generation American whose appreciation of his adopted country's promise and potential is balanced by an awareness of it's lapses.

On both the album's title track, which pays tribute to those among us who reject society's proscribed roles in favor of more humane value systems, and the spare, acoustic closing track "Te Back Page" which celebrate those whose everyday acts of kindness demonstate the human rac's capacity for selflessness, Kay's ultimate sense of hope and faith in humanity shines through.