Music

The Nightwatchman

With Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals. Tuesday, June 12, at House of Blues. This show is sold out.

By Jake McGee 

The Nightwatchman is Tom Morello. Yes, that Tom Morello, guitarist for Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, as well as co-founder of Axis of Justice, a social-activism organization. But this time around, it's just Morello, his acoustic guitar, and his deep, growling voice, belting out folk tunes from his debut, One Man Revolution.

"I started doing it because the combination of the arena rock of Audioslave and the political work of Axis of Justice were not enough for me," says Morello of his new direction. "As an artist, I wanted to be able to express what I think, what I feel, via my vocation as a guitar player, and now as a singer."

The time couldn't be better for Morello's new project. In this era of global turmoil and national madness, he comes on like a superhero fusion of Dylan and Springsteen, rocking out tales of solidarity and perseverance, and demanding change in the midst of tyranny.

"One of the things that I've enjoyed about doing this Nightwatchman music is making music for the right reasons," he says.

All the sonic experimentation that made Morello famous with Rage Against the Machine may be tucked away, but this new path is just as ambitious -- and ferocious.