There’s no way that I’m gonna take Tim Carroll to task for making an average rock album with just enough southern jaunt in its music to endear the disc to the ‘No Depression’ set. Instead, it’s worth figuring that Carroll at one time was a member of the Gizmos, an Indiana band that represented one of the important voices of Midwest punk during the ’70s.

Coming together in ‘75, the Gizmos weren’t the punk that so dominated New York or LA around the time owing as much to glam as anything else. These guys were radio-rock fans – the more succinct efforts of Zeppelin or that band’s antecedent the Yardbirds as well as Chuck Berry could be touchstones. With that informed background, the Gizmos were able to arrive at a less adept, albeit as entertaining, sound akin to the Ramones. And in ‘75, in the middle of Indiana, that was revelatory.

In the years that followed, the Gizmos gave it a go in NYC before calling it a day. Subsequently, Carroll found work on Wall Street of all places. That life, though, wasn’t a good fit for the guitarist and songwriter as he eventually moved to Nashville.

Since his arrival there, he’s been involved in nothing but music, releasing an album every few years. “All Kinds of Pain” doesn’t mar his career, it’s just so disconnected from the Gizmos that the disc is surprising to hear. It’s still been released through Gulcher Records, so there’s that.

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