“If you grew up like I did…..” the words present a challenge to all singer/songwriters.
Because, if an artist wants to truly connect, they need to convey the feeling that we are all on “Highway’s jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive” as the greatest of them all put it.
On his own “Growin’ Up” – the first song on his first record – Springsteen said: “I broke all the rules, strafed my old high school, never once gave thought to landing…” and in doing so he talked to the dreamers, those that used rock n roll as an escape and in so doing, he launched his own career
Austin Jenckes has had a lifetime to prepare himself for the opener here: “We Made It”, and this is his own pitch. This isn’t an escape, this is real life. This is “you and me against the world, a stupid boy and a pretty girl….” This is Tommy and Gina, this is livin’ on a prayer, this is the everyday.
And that vibe, pretty much, is all through this.
This is country, but it’s the country of Eric Church, Brothers Osborne, and Kendell Marvel. Pop infused and proud. Rather like Marvel, Jenckes has a background as a songwriter for others, and despite dedicating himself to music since he was a kid, this is his debut.
“Never Forget” is a sweet little love song, and whilst “American Nights” self-evidently weren’t the nights of the loner growing up in the West Midlands in England there’s enough to set you in a reverie.
The big centre-piece here, it seems to me is “Fat Kid”. Not only does it contain the line that gave the album by its name, there is probably something of that in all of us. Whether you grew up in a small town, in a big world or not.
That’s a skill, that’s actually the skill, really.
“Bet You’d Look Good” ensconces itself firmly in Cadillac Three territory, and make no mistake this has the same potential to do what they did. “Never Left Memphis” changes things up a little. With its organ, its soul and its dirty blues, this is the southern rock I have always loved.
Jenckes’ music comes from a place of real pain. His parents split as a teenager, with his dad taking his own life shortly after. “If You’d Been Around” – a plea to an absent father – is especially poignant given the context.
It’s the next one, though, that actually holds the key to this. “A Song For Everything” is the hook on which all of those of us that immerse ourselves in music will truly get. I know the one I listened to when good things happened, when bad things did – AIC’s “Man In A Box” is strangely connected to both….. –I know why, and in a different country with a different set of music so does Jenckes.
That’s why this record is so good.
“Ride Away” comes on like something from the recent, brilliant, Dave Hause record. Slow building, polished and somehow timeless.
A few weeks ago I was talking to a German colleague about why their English was good when the actual English couldn’t speak other languages. “Music,” she said. “You end up singing along to the radio.”
It’s universal, so is this. And that’s why, in a way, we all grew up like this. And why Austin Jenckes is the next crossover star.
Rating 8.5/10
