ST. PAUL PIONEER-PRESS (MN - August 29, 2001)

Sunday:

Robbie Fulks' gig at Lee's may be the weekend's best songwriter-in-a-club bet, but an equally tempting show happens at the Bryant-Lake Bowl on Sunday with Doug Hoekstra, former leader of roots-popsters Bucket Number Six. The
Nashville-by-way-of-Chicago songwriter's latest CD, "Around the Margins,'' is a subtly beautiful collection of hushed story-songs that has drawn comparisons to Robyn Hitchcock and Bob Dylan. But on "Lost Among the
Ruins,'' at least, Hoekstra whispers his way through his tale of life on the fringe like Leonard Cohen's kid brother, complete with Eurotrashy backup singers.

Speaking of Dylan, Hoekstra has the temerity and tenacity to cover every verse of Bob's "Isis'' on "Around the Margins.'' To be sure, the kid has learned from the master well. Hoekstra is a fine, literate songsmith. "Around the Margins'' includes the hilarious industry-geek send-up "Laminate Man,'' and "Giving Up Smoking,'' a rumination on bad habits that turns into
a prayer and is but one example of how Hoekstra never takes the singer/songwriter path most traveled. (Jim Walsh)