Lee Wadlinger: Twentieth Century Apprenticeship

Twentieth Century Apprenticeship, Lee Wadlinger's first studio-recorded release since 2000, not only serves as the Ohio-based performer’s
reintroduction to the music community, but it’s also the first release by Next Best Records. While the EP bears similarities to Wadlinger's 2000
album, What's Wrong With Me, the songs included here represent a decidedly more low-key approach, eschewing the distorted guitars and
Beach Boys harmonies that were featured throughout WWWM for a stripped-down, acoustic guitar-driven tone. In short, we like to say that the
record sounds like a 20-something Robert Pollard collaborating with a 30-something Bob Dylan and a grey-haired Eric Carmen. The minor key
“Throwing Bottles” and “Please Be Careful” serve as fitting preludes for the pensive “Written With Ink” (which, in another form, is also slated for
Wadlinger's upcoming LP, I-71) and “Powder Puff Blues.” Wadlinger describes “Nightlight,” the EP’s finale as “a semi-humorous take on the
media, Ohio, songwriting, and post-post-modern existentialism.” Whatever that means, the song does perhaps prove that there just might be a link
between Hugh Downs and the Dead Boys (aside from the obvious Akron connection).