One of Bauer's later album titles sums things up pretty well: Bad Cowboy. After rising through the European synth-pop ranks on the strength of a few steamy music videos, he eventually traded in his keyboards for a vintage Stratocaster. Along with the new sound came ragged subject matter to match, with outlaws and outcasts figuring prominently in his world-weary stories of lives lived on the margins. One can easily imagine him swapping tall tales with Warren Zevon, a fellow pessimist with an ear for good riffs.