(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Chuck Prophet, one of contemporary rock’s greatest songwriters, brings his band the Mission Express to Club Helsinki Hudson on Friday, March 31, at 9pm. Famed alt-country group The Bottle Rockets will warm up the crowd for Prophet.

With the aid of the Mission Express, his band of heartbreakers, Chuck Prophet embraces a host of traditional and classic sounds, including country, soul, LA rock, indie-rock, folk-rock, and plain old rock ‘n’ roll. Prophet writes and sings wry, trenchant rock songs that connect the dots, musical and otherwise, between Tom Petty, R.E.M., Link Wray, and Warren Zevon.

Lyrically, Prophet is deceptive, seemingly tossing off one-liners in his wry twang, but often in the service of full-fledged story-songs or sociopolitical narratives that are always cinematic, often funny, and subtly brilliant. He describes his new album, “Bobby Fuller Died for Your Sins,” as “California Noir,” which could well describe all of the output of this quirky original who has been associated in one way or another with musicians and bands including Ryan Adams, Lucinda Williams, Alejandro Escovedo, Cake, Kim Richey and Kelly Willis.

The new album includes the song, “Bad Year for Rock and Roll” — a timely homage to rock greats lost in 2016. Prophet name-checks David Bowie in the opening lines: “The Thin White Duke took a final bow / there’s one more star in the heavens now… I’m all dressed up in a mohair suit / watching Peter Sellers thinking of you.”

In recent years, Prophet’s music has been featured in several hit television series including HBO’s “True Blood,” Showtime’s “Californication,” and FX’s “Sons of Anarchy.” He also co-wrote all the songs on Alejandro Escovedo’s 2008 critically acclaimed album “Real Animal.” Think of him as America’s answer to Ray Davies.

Since the mid-1990s, The Bottle Rockets have been making a unique brand of populist, Midwestern, brawny rock ‘n’ roll. Part of the alt-country explosion of the Nineties, the Bottle Rockets list Woody Guthrie, Neil Young, and the Replacements as key influences.

For reservations in The Restaurant or in the club call 518.828.4800.