Fri. Nov. 2

 Bobby Bare, Jr. grew up living next to George Jones and Tammy Wynette. At night, his dad, Bobby Sr., would play country music in the house. “I never had to go out and search it out, it was a part of the backgroud,” says Bare, Jr., of country. But he also discovered rock – Elton John as a kid – and then in college at the University of Tennessee with bands like R.E.M., the Replacements and Black Flag. Claim to fame: “Henry Rollins told me he was gonna kick my ass.” Did he? “I ran away.” What Bare Jr. has done over the past decade or so has put together what he grew up with and what he’s gleaned over time. Asked to put a handle on it, Bare says, “I say that it’s Southern and it rocks but it’s not Southern rock, I think of R.E.M. - they’re not going out on tour with Skynyrd. I’ve toured with Drive-by Truckers and the Decemberists.” Right now, Bare is on the road - he's always on the road, he seems, he's a road hog - with the headlining Lucero  The $14 show at the Middle East Downstairs starts at 9:30 with Whiskey & Co.

472 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, 617-864-3278 www.mideastclub.com

Bare’s new disc, with his band, Young Criminals Starvation League, is “The Longest Meow.” On the over, is a Tim Burton-like drawing oa a long wolf leaping at a helpless Little Red Riding Hood type. Bare saw it and described her howl as “the longest meow.”
Bare says his lineage has not harmed or helped. “It’s not like I’m Bob Dylan Jr., it’s not really that big of a deal, and the people who know dad love dad.” (Bobby Jr. produced his dad’s last disc, “The Moon Was Blue” in 2006.)  “When my dad started, he was doing rockabilly and a that time that was Marilyn Manson  times twenty. What I do is somewhat mild in comparison.” Bare has spent time with major labels (Epic) and is currently happy in the indy world of Bloodshot. “It’s because the people who like my music really like it at Bloodshot,” hes says, “where at Epic, the people at the label liked me and told me they liked what I do, couple of minutes later they’re just as enthusiatic about Mariah Carey. They have to be, it’s their gig, its’ what they do. With Bloodshot, they encourage  to be more out there versus the major labels where the producer’s job is to make sure he doesn’t do something interesting”
For “The Longest Meow,” Bare recorded 11 songs with 11 musicians in 11 hours. Pure coincidence, he says. (Guys from My Morning Jacket and …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead are on it.) Bare takes his music every which say: up, down, psychedelic, country. “I write best when I’m in an up mood,” he says. “ To write a really sad song, you have to be positive. To finish any song you have to have a ton of optimism. Writing songs is easy as heck, finishing songs is a whole ‘nother record.”
Bare says the one thing he lacks control over is perception. For instance, he made “The Longest Meow” and folks told him “The Heart Bionic” had a T. Rex feel to it. He didn’t know. “The weirdest thing to learn is you don’t get to choose your fans, your fans choose you. It’s like doing your hair and make-up in a dark room with no mirror; until you have something to bounce it off on you have no idea.”
Last point: The record company provided a few fun “facts” about Bare including he was “romantically linked to Bob’s Big Boy boy” – the totem pole that stands outside many burger shop down south. Why? Bare considers it and says, “He’s a dude with the cheeseburger and he looks really happy.”

472 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, 617-864-3278 mideastclub.com