The Punk Site 2022 Top 20: Gregor Barnett – Don’t Go Throwing Roses In My Grave

In at number 12 in The Punk Site‘s 2022 top 20 is Don’t Go Throwing Roses In My Grave, the debut solo release from Gregor Barnett (The Menzingers) that was released in February via Epitaph Records. Despite all the turbulence surrounding its creation, there’s something deeply hopeful and reassuring about the album. Written and recorded in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the collection is a sonic departure from Barnett’s more punk-leaning work with The Menzingers, drawing on the gritty, off-kilter Americana of Tom Waits or Warren Zevon as it faces down loss and doubt in search of relief and redemption. The songs here are lean and powerful, with unfussy arrangements driven by simmering guitars and driving percussion, and the performances are raw and direct to match, cutting straight to the heart of things with tremendous empathy. 

This isn’t so much an album about death as it is about life. If the past eighteen months has taught us anything, it’s just how much we take for granted, our health, our country, our families, and how quickly it can all disappear. Don’t Go Throwing Roses In My Grave is a reminder to cherish the ones we love and the connections we have with them in what precious little time we’ve been given.