The Folk Singer of Fountain Valley

Michael Ubaldini knows he’s swimming upstream. Heavy is out, lightweight is in. He understands how today’s youth-driven pop culture sees a folk-centered album of social commentary as something that’s so yesterday.

Nevertheless, the Fountain Valley singer-songwriter-guitarist is undeterred in his quest. He has self-released “American Blood” (Blackwater Records), an ambitious collection of story songs about society’s chiseling away of the human spirit. Sort of a people’s manifesto, the CD takes aim at a profit-driven culture obsessed with turning just about everything--especially music--into a commodity ripe for mass consumption.

For instance, marketing rather than musical ability is the key ingredient to career success in the song “Build Your Own Pop Star,” in which Ubaldini sings with disdain:

Create an alter ego

A biography of fame

Buy yourself a wig

Give yourself another name.

“It’s almost like music and lyrics have become irrelevant,” the pompadour-sporting Ubaldini said during a recent interview at a Costa Mesa coffeehouse. “Where’s the mystery or creativity in that? Today’s commercial music is simply product, where image means way more than content. There’s something very wrong with that process.”

What Ubaldini, 34, has countered with since forming the roots-rock band Mystery Train in 1994 is an admirable body of work, rich in literary, character-minded detail. Although his band’s early rockabilly-tinged recordings focused primarily on the escapades of youthful desires and the vanishing American rural landscape, his solo efforts--including 1999’s exceptional “Acoustic Rumble”--reflect a broader, growing disillusionment with American society at large.

Although in part stoked by the unraveling of our social fabric, Ubaldini’s creative transition is linked to personal tragedy: the death of his father, Ivan. It was the elder Ubaldini who taught his then-10-year-old son to play the guitar to the tune of Hank Williams’ “Jambalaya.”

“I was blessed to grow up in a good family that stayed together, that was very close,” said Ubaldini, who still lives with his mom and has three older sisters. “My father was a good soul, a compassionate man who could also be funny and carefree. He used to tell us that we’re no better than anyone else, but no worse, either. More than anything, though, he taught us to do what we love and believe in ourselves.”

When Ivan Ubaldini died from a heart attack two years ago, his only son acquired a world of perspective.

“Some things just became more important to me,” said Ubaldini, who dedicated his bittersweet new song, “Railroad Train--1949,” to his father. “I saw things of value--like our roots and heritage--being eaten away, like some kind of sickness. No one cares anymore about the simplest things, like taking a walk or a drive, or having a conversation with a family member or a close friend. I felt like technology was snowballing into this fast-paced monster that was creating either conforming robots or these disjointed Americans--and I was one of the latter.

“So I felt compelled to write about it, about this forgotten crew of good people, like all of the writers, poets, artists and everyday people in the trenches. Forget the millionaire athletes and self-serving politicians. It’s those hard-working but disillusioned folks that I care about. It’s sad how their value keeps plunging, despite being the heart and soul of this country.”

Even though Ubaldini is critical of the direction American society has taken, he insists he is a patriot. He points to the title track of “American Blood” as not only an expression of his tough love and devotion, but as a springboard for the entire album’s message. Sample lyric:

Well, I may leave home

But I will always return

Where the good and evil simultaneously burn.

“I look at America as part of my family,” Ubaldini said. “There are things about your siblings that you’d like to change, right? But at the same time, it’s like only you can say something bad about your sister. You’ve got to defend her against all others, everything that’s good, bad and in between. Same thing with America. . . . I’ll always stand up for her and all our heroes and villains because of my American blood.”

Although “American Blood” is musically enriching and thematically meaty, one wonders whether the demanding recording--available at his shows and https://www.rocknrollpoet.com--will find a receptive audience.

“It just came time for me to do this record. . . . I didn’t want to be seen as one-dimensional and get tagged as simply a rockabilly and blues guy,” said Ubaldini, who cites influences as diverse as Hank Williams, Gene Vincent, the Beatles, Dylan, Springsteen and the Ramones. “You can hear a mixture of styles in the artists I admire, and that’s what I’m striving for in my approach.

“Of course, I had a lot to say on this record, but I had no idea who the audience was going to be. I figured I’d write it, put it out there and maybe people would find it. I’m optimistic that others share my concerns and are hungry for music and words that speak to them about their experiences.”

SHOW TIMES

Michael Ubaldini & Mystery Train, House of Blues, 1530 Disney Drive, Anaheim. With BR5-49 and the Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash. Today, 8 p.m. $15. (714) 778-2583; Ubaldini plays solo at Stubrik’s Steakhouse, 118 E. Commonwealth Ave., Fullerton. Thursday, 8 p.m. Free. (714) 871-1290; also solo at Diedrich Coffee, 4213 Campus Drive, Irvine. Saturday, 8 p.m. Free. (949) 854-4166; and Ubaldini & Mystery Train appear at Tumbleweeds, 21904 Beach Blvd., Huntington Beach. 21 and older. May 11, 9 p.m. Free. (714) 960-2776.