Prison Book Club, a new entrant to the Shepherdstown rock scene, celebrated the release of their debut CD Required Reading with a show at the Blue Moon Cafe last night. There, a crowd of about 70 crammed the ballroom while Adam Miesterhans did that thing where he shreds a lot and blows everyone's mind, John Miller did that thing where he belts out guttural country-tinged rock vocals and plays a solid lead guitar, Tucker Riggleman did that thing where he belts out soulful alt-rock ballads and also plays a solid, alternating, lead guitar, and Jeff Birdsall did that thing where the drummer provides a goofy, lighthearted rhythm and air to the whole thing, which all combines to form a miasmicly coherent countrified rock band with a hard edge, well worth the money to see live.

That may be the longest sentence I have ever written.

Regardless, check them out live...whenever that may be. At last night's show, John Miller confessed that they did not know when they would next play Shepherdstown. If word spreads about their solid performance last night, they should have no trouble at the door.

The CD they were hawking, Required Reading, is definitely worth a purchase. It was rushed through production, and it shows on the quality of the recording. The title reflects the true value of the album as a primer on the band's sound, but it is a bit of a stretch to link their performance on the CD, which seemed restrained, with their raucous live performance, which was filled with an abundance of feeling.

However, beyond that the CD is also a good tool to acquaint yourself with the two singer-songwriters who form the core of Prison Book Club, John Miller, well known as the guitarist for those old-time-punks The Fox Hunt, and Tucker Riggleman, known for his acoustic-solo act and his role as bassist in The Demon Beat. Miller and Riggleman have an established reputation within the Shepherdstown music scene as solid songwriters, and Prison Book Club provides, what I believe is the first collaboration between these two small town lyrical dynamos. The resulting CD features Miller and Riggleman trading off on lead vocals, sometimes akwardly, sometimes smoothly, but the songs have depth, dealing with small town rumor mills, love, and heartbrreak, among a host of other rural-alt-youth topics. In fact, the band's lyrical strength lies in their ability to vocalize the unique trials and tribulations that come with rural modernity and youth culture.

Thematically, it's the same formula that other Shepherdstown bands have utilized in their songwriting, usually in either rock or old-time string bands. Prison Book Club (and slightly before them, Chelsea McBee and the Bloody 9's) represent a marriage of these two camps. The sound that results is truly unique, and I think it may be the beginnings of a new kind of popular music in Shepherdstown.