7/10

Griffin Winton’s 'Best All-Around Boy' lands like a lightning strike across Nashville’s winter skyline. From the first riff of 'Another Cracker At The Crossroads', Winton and his band channel decades of rock influences while carving out their own mischievous, slyly intelligent corner of modern indie-rock.

The record is as much a showcase for storytelling as it is for musicianship. Winton’s witty, sardonic, and often hilarious lyrics cut through cultural and personal commentary with a razor-sharp edge. Tracks like 'Balls Deep' disguise philosophical musings on responsibility beneath a veil of absurdist humor, while his recent hit 'MAGA MILF' skewers pop-culture nationalism with gleeful irreverence.

Yet the album’s heart is undeniably musical. Drummer Austin Drewry and bassist Hunter Mulkey anchor each track with precision and inventiveness, alternating between driving blues-rock grooves, bouncing college-rock hooks, and relaxed folk-rock textures. Guitarist Cole Clarke and Winton himself layer everything from airy melodic passages reminiscent of Wilco to jagged, overdriven freak-outs channeling Dinosaur Jr. and Jack White, creating a landscape that is both dynamic and intoxicatingly fun.

'Best All-Around Boy' thrives on its sophomoric humour paired with social critique, offering raw energy balanced by subtle melodic sophistication. Across its brisk runtime, the album is candid, mischievous, and exuberantly human. Griffin Winton and his crew have created a celebration of joy, irreverence, and the kind of messy, exhilarating humanity that reminds us why we fell in love with music in the first place.