Sage Arts artist: Marley's Ghost - Jubilee - New Release Review

I just received a new release, Jubilee, by Marley's Ghost. This release has very little "blues" content but I gotta tell you...it's really great! This recording has a veritable who's who of music stars including Emmylou Harris, John Prine, Old Crow Medicine Show, Marty Stuart, Larry Campbell, Byron House and Don Heffington. Now I gotta admit, I'm a blues guy who listens to other stuff that's good. This is great!

The release is made up of 13 tracks, six which are originals. The band is Dan Wheetman, Jon Wilcox, Mike Phelan, Ed Littlefield Jr. and Jerry Fletcher. I guess that my job is to tell you what I like about this release... almost everything! The release opens with Rollin' which I would describe as a straight forward country song but I also got to tell you I hate country (by today's standards). I really like this track. It's clean, pure and interesting. The vocals, instrumentation and arrangement is superb. Second up is an uptempo "country" song called Wake Up Mama. This song is a real stomper again with a lot of fine playing and great vocals. The third original on the release is The Blues Are Calling, another traditional country style song. Now I get a little confused with labels because what I call country may be called Americana and what others call country I likely call pop but this is really strong. It's the kind of country music that should be called country music. It's got heart and soul... and no booty dancers. The first of the cover tacks is Kris Kristofferson's This Old Road with John Prine. A very traditional ballad. The band then covers Bobby Womack's It's All Over Now with Old Crow Medicine Show. Think soul music done by Jerry Garcia (Old And In The Way)... really nice. South For A Change gets into Bob Wills territory (Lets say Asleep At The Wheel) and it's a great country swing track. The vocals on this track are beautiful as are the instrumentation. Levon Helm's Growin' Trade is done very respectfully and retains the purity that it was conceived with. Tom Russell's Hank and Audrey is a track that I would expect to come out of a juke box in a funky little bar that I would like to frequent... pure, clean... cool! Butch Hancock's If You Were A Bluebird is a great little song especially featuring pure solid vocals and smooth musical base. Lonely Night has that pure 50-60's country sound that rarely sees the airwaves now. It is a great contribution to the release overall. Diamond Joe has the very traditional country sound that you might expect from even earlier cowboys. You should check this recording out. I like almost every track on the release (which is unusual for music of any type) and not only is the writing, instrumentation, vocals and music selection terrific, it appears that the the construction of the songs have been well thought through with no gratuitous riffs just to add riffs but beautiful short bursts of instrumental excellence like a painter adds just the right amount of color or texture to make the whole work beautifully.

Highly recommended.

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