The Blue Spruce Project are a folksy, string-heavy musical project that consists of musicians Greg Baum and Dennis “Doc” Chubinski. This duo mix their love of melody-driven pop rock and humorous storytelling to make songs that feel equally at home on an oldies radio dial or on a Bob and Tom show compilation.

The Blue Spruce Project is this duo’s debut — eight songs of acoustic guitar and mandolin-heavy story-songs, odd tales that range from Vladimir Putin to pirate captains to a polka about Grandma. If you have a special place in your heart for big acoustic strummers and Dr. Demento, you might just get a kick out of this oddity of an album.

The album opens with “Putin,” a jaunty romp that sounds like gypsy folk music from the Romanian countryside. It’s sung in a faux Russian accent with Putin explaining he’s a nice guy. If you like your music with a bit of a wink and a nod, you might enjoy this. 

“The Pirate Captain” has a nice ’60s pop rock chord progression with Baum singing about, well, a pirate captain. And “Grandma Polka (A Rap Polka)” is a polka about Grandma. It’s quirky and sure to be a big hit at your next Germanfest.

So, this album is going for a very niche music listener. It’s a musical world we don’t hear of that much of anymore, where humor is entwined into these melody-driven songs. While not parody territory, Baum and Chubinski want to tell humorous tales in their songs. 

The country-tinged “Ira’s Song (A Better Place)” feels a little different since it’s a genuine remembrance to a friend now gone, a song about a war hero who’s left this Earth.

The Blue Spruce Project is a fun and quirky album with two musicians that are having a great time writing and playing together.