“If you see my love, tell her I miss her”. The very first line on “Meadow Pt 2” is so steeped in the singer-songwriter tradition that it could be Dylan.
And that’s not hyperbole. Tom Jenkins knows it too. He gets the harmonica out and it’s 1964 in Greenwich Village again.
Except it is not, not in Jenkins’ world. The world’s singer/songwriter/Shepherd, “Meadow Pt 2” comes out in what I assume is lambing season.
Part 1 had emerged in December last year. It was “a special start” as I put it. This one expands the sonics too. “Blame It” adds a bit of a euphoria. A dance-like quality. It’s not troubadour stuff, that’s for sure, but perhaps it rather shines a light on Jenkins’ wanderlust. Never settling isn’t a bad thing. Just as never settling on the same style of music isn’t either.
Let’s be honest about it, shall we? You probably will hear the opening to “Runway Now” and think Springsteen, yet the song itself doesn’t have the New Jersey Turnpike in view. Rather it goes where it wants. Like its lyrics say: “Why do we need to know where we’re going?” And in this destination-anywhere type of atmosphere, the indie guitar solo fits in by not fitting in at all.
The harmonies on “The Cruel Passing Of Time” (sung with Katherine Priddy) sound gorgeous, and content. “Modern life is overrated” he offers here, and if it harks back to the past then late 60s Laurel Canyon is probably in its sights.
“Back Roads” – the undoubted highlight of this – could have graced the pages of Uncut in about 1999 alongside Whiskeytown and the ilk.
And if you had traditional folk on your bingo card for this, then “Stay And Work the Land” has you covered there, and that might be autobiographical.
Whether they are or not, Jenkins reckons he’s following a long lime of Shepherd Poets, and there’s always been a turn of phrase in the Welsh hills. With “Meadow PT 2” the tradition rolls on.
Rating 8.5/10
REVIEW: TOM JENKINS – MEADOW PT 2
Published:
