Fernando pulled himself out of the same Portland, Oregon music scene that's already thrown off the likes of Quasi, Pete Krebs, Elliott Smith and Little Sue Weaver. And judging from his latest work, Old Man Motel, he shares more than just a zip code with them. The album is a versatile collection of quirky Americana peopled by estimable writing, expert playing and deceptively simple aspirations. An engine turning over and the first rumbling lick of "Ride" aim straight at Neil Young while "Swing Low" is molded from the stuff Young should have been writing with Pearl Jam. "Angelyne" is the Son Volt song Jay Farrar can't write to save his major label contract, and "Another Victim" is the Grant Lee Buffalo single we'll never hear. Sure, none of these pursuits are complex, but they are risky. Poor Crazy Horse imitators dine at hell's furnace- side table.

Fernando also does well keeping the affair on edge, an invaluable asset here. The Beatles' influence on both the piano ballad "Same Ol' King" and the album's title track, a Revolver- style jangle played at double speed, keeps things out of alt-country cliché territory, as does the equally difficult "Deviant," a twisted Lowery- esque lament. In the meantime, "Southern California" is what every Oregonian really thinks about the song's namesake (regardless of what they may tell you) and an interesting play on country rock's most reviled commercial success, the Eagles.

Totaling the accounts, Old Man Motel is a handful and a half of taken chances, yet still smart and accomplished-- a bit too careful of itself, but confident. It's an album of elusive and engaging roots rock that stands strong against the output of its hometown.

-Neil Lieberman