Critics have a habit of standing behind criminally unknown musicians, kicking and screaming to no avail. It's really kind of mind numbing to consider just how this happens. We could be like a political party; hold a big convention, drink a couple of bottles of whisky, fondle the young delegates, nominate someone we all agree to get behind, and write it off as a business expense on our 1040s. Instead, we're paid a living wage to listen and report on virtually anything, so when we hear something good, we tend to talk a little loud. Not that anyone's listening. Oprah may make millionaires out of her bathroom reading's authors, but I'm hard pressed to imagine anyone's made more than a couple of hundred bucks off a music writer.

Dave Schramm makes me keep trying though. An original member of Yo La Tengo, Schramm departed after that band's debut, Ride the Tiger, to form his own. Initially tagged the Walking Wounded, the band soon discovered another of the same name and transformed-- at first jokingly, and then permanently-- into the Schramms. Fronting the Schramms, Dave has been a party to a string of the most consistent musicianship of the '90s, in addition to lending his guitarwork to the likes of Freedy Johnston's Can You Fly and the Replacements' All Shook Down. The Schramms' albums are marked with Dave's deft and compelling guitar work, his nasal baritone and his excellent songwriting.

Like Yo La Tengo left on a bar stool too long, Schramm's songs work the Velvet Underground's sonic experimentation into smart country rock writing as well as anyone. Hammer and Nails, a solo collection of mostly new material thrusts those songs into the spotlight. Making his way through the album with only his guitar and the occasional organ flourish, Schramm comes off akin to the late Townes Van Zandt. "The Way Some People Die," from the first Yo La Tengo album fares well under this treatment, as does "Funeral Song," which features lyrics from an Emily Dickinson poem-- a Schramm trademark. Although the album misses Schramm's normally invigorating solos, his effort on the instrumental "Lament Lullaby" is beautiful.

It's doubtful Schramm will find himself any better off from the acclaim he receives here, and certainly his band's work bears greater witness to his talent and versatility than does this solo effort. Nevertheless, I'll continue to point Schramm out to anyone asking for the most talented musician they've never heard. Someone has to listen.

-Neil Lieberman