BY BILL BENTLEY
Jon Dee Graham & the Fighting Cocks, It’s Not As Bad As It Looks, Freedom Records
Rock & roll promised to save our souls, but a not so funny thing happened on the way to the Forum. The people who ran the business end of recorded music got so powerful, they became more influential than the musicians themselves. And when that happened, baby the rain must fall. It got very clear very quick that the people who made the music, well, they were dispensable, and for those still committed enough to believe a song could change the world, there was a waiting line on the left but the check-in table was empty. But for those who had no other avenue except to continue trying to keep the spirit alive, there never was and never will be a safety net. Making music was it, and at a certain age flipping burgers is not an alternative. It is basically play or die. Jon Dee Graham knows this too well. They say we all die a little each day, except at one point Graham did it faster than everyone else. After a hellaciously promising run in the True Believers with the Escovedo brothers, the south Texan went solo, and basically tore through the brambles and spent a lot of goodwill burning down bridges. There are those who draw grace towards themselves, sometimes against all odds, and that is this man. He has made solo albums as strong as anyone alive, and even though they are largely ignored matters not a whit. It’s Not As Bad As It Looks is the best one yet, and songs like “Beautifully Broken” and “My Lucky Day” don’t stop you cold in your tracks, you probably never lived for this music anyway. Yet for those who did and might even be as bunged up as Graham, these songs are a must. The voice sounds like he’s gotten sandpaper implants, but his eye for those things that make music that is more than just living, this is the secret book you have to hear. He offers love for all, and that is no Wal-Mart sales item. These are feelings from underneath the underdog; no returns allowed. We have all been to the end of the road, whether we remember or not. Jon Dee Graham is going to lead the way out, not because he wants to but because. He needs to.
Tindersticks, Falling Down A Mountain, Constellation Records
Imagine Nick Cave, maybe, minus that undeniable fascination he has with darkness, a voice that isn’t quite as inspired by an undertaker, then add on a bit of English orchestral music and a touch of the ethereal, and you get a whiff of Tindersticks. Formed in Nottingham in 1991, the group immediately found their own sound. It wasn’t as much quiet as it was serene. Except right underneath that serenity, of course, was a world of emotional turmoil. Lead singer Stuart Staples had ghosts a-go-go in his closet. You could feel them seeping out of his voice and banging all around the band’s lyrics. The way Tindersticks can almost float in suspended animation rallied the gloom squad immediately, and gave those who had given up Goth a place to hang their black clothes. For the first four or five albums, the British band became a living, breathing cult, one that looked it might spread far and wide. Naturally, things fell apart as they often do. On Falling Down A Mountain, Tindersticks are in rare form, equaling their past mastery of uniqueness right away. And if “Keep You Beautiful” doesn’t become a contemporary standard, well, Nick Cave should consider investing in a nice mortuary because there may not be much future for those who can rattle the center of our souls so deeply. There will not be another album like this released in 2010, and as Spring bounds forth, these songs are the perfect soundtrack for a rebirth of the heart.
Benjy Davis Project, Lost Souls Like Us, Rock Ridge Music
You can sense a Southern band a mile away. Maybe it’s the way the rhythm flows, like its being pushed by a big rolling river full of catfish and water moccasins. Think Allman Brothers. Or possibly it’s the deep-seated fatalism at the heart of their lyrics. Consult Lynryd Skynyrd on that count. It’s something that comes from the soil and the blood. Memphis producer Jim Dickinson attributed it to the South losing the Civil War. No doubt other causes also contribute. Benjy Davis Project come from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and know all about was goes on below the Mason-Dixon line. They’ve been making this music for awhile, and on their fourth album Lost Souls Like Us go for the long ball, even if the band is now only Davis and Mic Capdevielle. Some powerful players who know how to hit the note better than most surround them. Benjy Davis’ voice has a winsome soul-deep allure which captures the long nights and sunny days in the Bayou state, and he never loses sight of how to tell tales of the spirit. So whether he’s singing about the magic of Mississippi, past romances or all tomorrow’s parties, he zeroes in on what counts: the truth. There are a lot of bands carrying the flag for their home turf, but none with more passion than the Benjy Davis Project.
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