Preview: Liam Catchings and the Jolly Racket live

At the heart of local rock outfit Liam Catchings and the Jolly Racket is an obvious dedication to the art of songwriting. That dedication is all but forgotten in most modern incarnations of popular rock music. Before rock n’ roll became synonymous with overbearing fuzzy guitars, petty stage theatrics and drinking anthems, there were only songs and the people who wrote them. It is not an easy task, trying to make new music that combines elements that made rock and roll so great in the 1960s and 1970s, while maintaining one’s own identity.

Despite being clearly influenced by artists from a bygone era, Catchings and the Jolly Racket come off less as an attempt to imitate classic rock. The songs are undeniably good, choosing to celebrate the wonders of the golden era of this most American of pop culture art forms.

Listening closely, one might grab snippets that are reminiscent of piano-centered songwriters like Tom Waits or Randy Newman, but heard through a filter that pushes them in the direction of bands like Traffic and Thin Lizzy.

On “Call Me John The Baptist,” the lead track from Secular Music, a new six song EP which is available to stream or download here, Catchings sings “We all want to be David Bowie/See our face in the magazines too/But I think it best that you be yourself/Or find something else to do.”

Let’s hope he continues to focus on the former rather than the latter.

Liam Catchings and The Jolly Racket perform at Mud & Water Saturday, November 16.