So a friend of mine is in a band known as “The Jack Willows.” (He plays keys and he’s good at it too.) He’s been in this band for a better part of a year and they just put out their debut album “Lonesome Restaurant” in October. (However, I did not find out about any of this until today. It’s a shame we only use Facebook to communicate things now…what happened to normal conversation?). Anyway, they have an interesting sound. On their website they classify themselves as an “All-Country Folk band.” (I’m not that into country…but I figured I’d listen to it anyway if it was just to hear John on keys.) As it turns out, it would seem that the band is more heavily influenced by folk than country. I think they stuck country in there so they could logically keep their lapsteel guitar player Phil Sedore. (I’d take folk over country any day) So I kept listening. Tim Hoare’s lead vocals and guitar work fit the folk genre for sure. (He kind of sounds like Terry Kelly…but different obviously). The rest of the musicians fill in nicely with John Boudreau on Keys, Paul Boudreau on bass and Julian Marentette on drums.
“Lonesome Restaurant” is itself an interesting record, while it is driven heavily by acoustic folky strum patterns, the guys do throw some tricks in there that one would not traditionally expect to be on a folk album…just to make sure their listeners are paying attention.
You can have a listen to their whole album on their website. You can also check them out on Facebook.