Jason James’ recently released Cut The Chain is his third album over the past ten years. During this time, James has moved from Texas Honky Tonks and Dance Halls to larger performance venues across the USA. All ten tracks on the album are self-penned and James is backed by a selection of musicians who have played for the greats of country music.
The result is an album of polished country music which is highly listenable whether you want to hear someone who is taking up the torch for the next generation of traditional country music or you want a great introduction to the genre.
The title track opens the album, upbeat, country fiddle and electric lead to accompany James’ cheerful vocal; ‘Another Day In Nightmare’ opens with a line about a jukebox and builds into a classic country song of missing his woman “in a world where dreams don’t come true” and where, just as you’d expect from the title, there are “cold, grey dawns of loneliness”.
‘One More Cry’ is heart-rending steel guitar and crooned vocal; ‘Honky Tonks In Mind’ bounces to a tune which reminds us of the links between country music and early rock and roll; “Alone tonight in some bar” is the opening line of ‘A Heart When It Cries’. The track has some gems of images, such as reaching for the bottle by the bed (because) his woman is nowhere in sight; I defy you not to see that picture in your imagination.
There is something about the opening bar or four of a country track in which the band grabs the attention, then winds it down slightly to a steady vocal that is romantic and touching before re-soaring to a chorus that you’re singing along to before you realise. It’s a timeless style for tugging the emotions and James and the band do this magnificently on ‘As Long As I Have You To Hold’.
The remainder of the tracks are equally grand traditional country music tracks –again you can tell from the titles, ‘To Have Loved And Lost’, ‘She’s Gone Again, ‘Tonight I’m Stepping Out’ and the concluding ‘I Can’t Get Used To Gettin’ Over You’.
There are a number of images, that come to mind when someone talks about ‘traditional country music’. In the UK there can be a gentle smile that goes with this; in America there feels still to be a much stronger sense of value: of honest storytelling; of the ability to capture deep emotion without weakness or pity; of clarity, simplicity of narrative and emotion; of music which can tear your heart in its loneliness or can spring you into life in a rough old bar. Cut The Chain does this really well. The stories, melody and style match – clean cut no nonsense songs, apparently simple but giving life to a set of values and lifestyles away from the glitter of Nashville et al, but without which our more modern Americana would have no base.
If traditional country music is your kind of thing, you’ll not only know what to expect but you won’t be disappointed; if it isn’t currently, then give this album a listen – it just might become your kind of thing.
Mike Wistow
Artist’s website: https://www.thejasonjamesband.com
‘One More Cry’ – live on TV (ignore the saccharine introduction):
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