Charlie Overbey, “The Ballad of Eddie Spaghetti” (self-released). Lifelong Angeleno Overbey named his last record “California Kid,” so he’s not concerned with hiding his western roots. An artist who has sweated the L.A. country rock and punk scenes for two decades, he’s maneuvered through bands including Big Bang Babies and Custom Made Scare — and a stint in prison — while working behind the scenes as a booking agent.
His forthcoming album, “Broken Arrow,” will arrive in April, and he’s been teasing it with a few prerelease songs. “The Ballad of Eddie Spaghetti” is about the singer and guitarist for the twang-punk band the Supersuckers, who was diagnosed with throat cancer a few years ago.
Written as a kind of last will and testament, Overbey inhabits his friend’s psyche to celebrate his life with thrilling glee. “If I die at 47, if I die before my time / Would they drag me up to heaven or drive me off to hell in my prime?” (The good news is that Spaghetti was declared cancer-free eight months after being diagnosed.)
Another forthcoming song, “Echo Park,” rolls with rock ‘n’ roll momentum suggestive of the E Street Band, if Bruce Springsteen were singing about lost love not in Asbury but Echo Park.