For more than 30 years, Jim Lindberg has belted out attitude-driven in-your-face skate punk jams. The Pennywise frontman has helped cement a place for the band as genre legends with songs that question authority and testosterone-filled tunes like “Bro Hymn.”

With his punk creds fully earned and undisputed, the 56-year-old Manhattan Beach resident took a trip to the Coachella Valley desert, largely inspired by the memory of his father, and returned with his first solo acoustic album, showing fans his softer, less electric side.

“I’ve been putting out loud crazy distorted punk music now for 30 years and I definitely wanted the challenge of doing something that wasn’t as bombastic but still keeping the energy there of the anthemic style of music that I’ve been writing for so long,”  said Lindberg, who released “Songs From the Elkhorn Trail” digitally in mid-November.

The 12-track album includes upbeat and hopeful songs driven by the acoustic guitar but with bass, drums and even some strings and horns mixed in.

“It was so much fun and so liberating being a songwriter and being able to add all that stuff in there. I think when people first hear it they’ll be like, ‘This sounds nothing like Pennywise,” but at the same time I think the heart is there still,” Lindberg said.

But Lindberg, who grew up in Hermosa Beach, did call on a few of his old musical bros for help.

The album, which includes David Hidalgo Jr. of Social Distortion on drums, Joe Gittleman of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones on bass and Marc Orrell, formerly of the Dropkick Murphys, on guitar, will be released on CD and vinyl May 6.

And while this is Lindberg’s first acoustic solo album, unplugging is nothing new for the longtime punk rocker, or for others in the genre.

Speakeasy

Several punk music veterans recently showed their acoustic sides at the second installment of Redondo Beach’s BeachLife Festival, performing on the tiny Speakeasy Stage, which was curated by Lindberg and set up under a wood structure that resembled an oversized surf shack with cushioned patio furniture in front of the stage.

That’s where several acts, including Trever Keith from Face to Face and Jason DeVore of Authority Zero, who both regularly play acoustic shows, performed in front of packed crowds that often spilled out of the structure.

“The Speakeasy was amazing, I don’t think it could have gone any better,” Lindberg said.

Lindberg also performed on the stage, debuting songs from his new album to what seemed to be the largest crowd that gathered in front of the stage that weekend, which has Lindberg thinking about making a few changes for next year’s BeachLife.

“I think we’re going to have to expand on it a little next year because it got a little crowded for a while there but I couldn’t be happier because everyone seemed to be having a good time,” he said. “We’re looking at that right now and we’re planning out the site map for next year,” he added.

Desert retreat

Lindberg will continue to ride this acoustic wave as he supports the new album, which was partially written at his late father’s house in Palm Desert.

“I owe so much to my father with everything he gave me and supporting my career,” Lindberg said, adding that his father, who died in 2018, helped influence his love of music from a young age, introducing him to singer/songwriters including Harry Chapin and Roger Miller.

“The house was just a really peacefully quiet place for me to get away and write songs,” he said. “His influence is all over this record.”

The album opens with “The Palm of Your Hand,” an upbeat tune with an emotional message and a video filmed in front decades-old Manhattan Beach dive bar Ercole’s.

“The whole idea in the chorus was you gotta let your feelings show and let your ego drop,” Lindberg said of the song.

Jim Lindberg of Pennywise is one of the performers and the curator for the BeachLife Festival’s SpeakEasy stage. Lindberg recently released his first solo acoustic album. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Contributing Photographer)

And in true punk fashion, Lindberg showed up for the video sporting a Black Flag shirt, fedora and shades as he and a friend filmed him playing a guitar and singing in front of the bar.

“We just went down and set up my guitar just like I was a busker in the street and we recorded it really quickly and luckily no one stopped me,” he said.

Some people even put money in his guitar case.

Another defining song on the album that takes the in-your-face punk attitude and flips it into an in-your-heart emotional tune is “Don’t Lay Me Down,” a song about his father’s death and battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

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“I think it’s really representative of the album because I wrote it in one sitting from top to bottom and it’s just very honest. That song is about as honest as it comes, it’s about real facts that went on in my life and going through the grieving process and how to get through it,” he said.

“It’s really the keystone song in the album,” Lindberg said.

And as far as the future of Pennywise, fans need not worry because Lindberg is punk enough to pull off both styles of music at the same time.

“There’s definitely room for both,” he said. “At the same time having this acoustic album is a good creative outlet for me so I definitely want to do more of that too,” he said.

Information: jimlindberg.com