After a hard week, I woke up this morning feeling a bit worn down, but this next record sustained and restored me. I’m glad to share some thoughts on it with you, dear readers.
The record, not the week.
Disc 1665 is…The Lonesome Traveler
Artist: Jarrod Dickenson
Year of Release: 2012
What’s up with the Cover? You don’t really associate trees with travelers, lonesome or otherwise. Trees do very little traveling. Maybe this tree is an ent and will at some point (after long deliberation) decide to become a lonesome traveler. Ents are all lonesome, you see, on account of having lost their entwives.
But I digress…
How I Came To Know It: I read a review at American Songwriter for Dickenson’s newest album, “Big Talk” released earlier this year. That led me to dig into his back catalogue, which is how we ended up here.
Finding the records proved difficult, however. They weren’t on Bandcamp, or Amazon and my local record store couldn’t order them in. Eventually, I bought them straight from Dickenson’s website.
How It Stacks Up: I have three Jarrod Dickenson albums, which I think is all of them. He is not terribly prolific. It is hard to rank them because I’ve only had them all for a few weeks and I’m still getting to know the other two. Based on early returns, I’m going to give “The Lonesome Traveler” the win – first place! I reserve the right to change my mind later.
Rating: 4 stars
Jarrod Dickenson is straight up Americana, no chaser. If you like your indie country music cask strength, then you’ve come to the right place.
On later records Dickenson branches out into some different sounds, but on “The Lonesome Traveler” he climbs up on that one vibe with enthusiasm and gives it a full ride. Do not expect unexpected chord progressions or jazzy interludes. Dickenson has some tales to tell, and he’s going to tell them frill-free.
I like my music stripped down like this, and it helps that Dickenson is a natural storyteller. There are times that he could apply a bit more specificity to his imagery (the specific is terrific) but I forgave the sometimes-obvious language. This was easy to do, as Dickenson may not break a ton of new ground, but he sings with earnestness and honesty.
The record opens with “Ain’t Waiting Any Longer” a slightly schmaltzy tune about asking a woman to marry him. It is a bit too mainstream radio country for my tastes, but it is so happy it is hard not to fall under the spell.
After this apparent effort to write a hit, Dickenson gets into the good stuff. “The Northern Sea” is worthy entry into the long list of songs that laud the hard, dangerous work of the commercial fisherman. This one reminded me a lot of Billy Joel’s “Downeaster Alexa” but without all the production. There are a couple of places where I felt I could write a better line of poetry, but I’m a sucker for fisherman tales (I was a fisherman myself one summer), and this one ticked all the boxes.
“Rosalie” is a beautiful love song, and features Dickenson’s best vocal performance. His tone has a very light gravel in it which helps with the storytelling aspect of his music, but on “Rosalie” he adds a hint of hurt in the head voice. It isn’t a ton of range, but it is the right amount and serves the song.
“Rosalie” also introduces Dickenson’s other weapon – his work on the acoustic guitar. Dickenson has a light touch and sounds 80% country with a hint of bluegrass giving it some jump. I could listen to it for days. I did, in fact.
The best guitar work on the record is the final song, “Seasons Change” a song Dickenson wrote in honour of his grandfather, Homer Dickenson (the whole album is dedicated to Homer and grandmother Margaret). If listening to Dickenson pluck this tune of love and devotion doesn’t make your heart blossom you should see your cardiologist.
Across the whole record the arrangement and production is restrained, with plenty of space and air to let the songs breathe and the individual players showcase their skills. On each listen I discovered a new way to approach the song – now the voice, now the guitar, now the piano. It was restful and sublime.
On balance, this was a thoroughly enjoyable discovery and leaves me excited to dive deeper into his other records as well.
Best tracks: The Northern Sea, Rosalie, I Remember June, Come What May, the Lonesome Traveler, Seasons Change
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