Tag: as time stands still

Jimmy Brewer is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist and not your typical acoustic troubadour. Jimmy Brewer has the power to silence a room with little more than an intro. He captures an audience and takes them on an emotional rollercoaster ride, leaving them exhausted, amazed and fulfilled. Fresh from being one of the chosen artists to represent their home town on the 2012 Joan Armatrading UK tour where he performed to a packed house at Northampton’s Derngate Theatre, Jimmy Brewer will now release his debut album entitled AS TIME STANDS STILL.

Growing up in rural Lincolnshire, Jimmy found inspiration amongst his parents’ record collection while his peers were busy with the Spice Girls. Jimmy initially learning to play on a guitar from the Argos catalogue. Obsessively listening and mimicking the dusty old vinyl, Jimmy would often pretend to be ill so that he could stay home from school and listen to artists such as The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and…Shakin’ Stevens, artists that were certainly not seen as “cool” for an eight year old to be listening to in 1996.

Fast forward to the present day and those early influences are still his biggest and most important, but with the addition of the old school sounds of Nat King Cole and Fats Domino through to the more contemporary styling of Jeff Buckley. There are hints at the quirkiness of David Bowie, the wit of Jerry Reed and the imagination of Tom Waits, whilst maintaining a Muddy Waters-esque blues feel. This diverse range of influences is very much in evidence on AS TIME STANDS STILL, an album that demonstrates that the craft of classic song writing is still very much alive and well. This debut release is a collection of twelve songs written over the past year and a half, the majority of the album being recorded in a studio on a dairy farm in Pembrokeshire, West Wales.

To quote Jimmy “The idea was to create an album of ups and downs, with a two-sided feel as if it were a record. My favourite albums all have a very clear shape.” Secluded and free from distractions, Jimmy and producer Owain Fleetwood Jenkins often found themselves working solidly for twenty hours a day (apart from when the milking parlour was running), fuelled by endless cups of tea and “the freshest, creamiest milk you will ever taste!”

The mournful, almost medieval sounding ballad Velcro Girl (video below), the heart breaking It Still Aches and the memorial Gordon are contrasted with the nostalgia of Watching Records Go Round & Round and the humorous retrospective Two Inches Taller, a song about being the shortest boy in your class. This album has something which everyone can enjoy, and one listen will prove that you’ll never grow tired of hearing it.

For more information and the latest tour news, please visit http://www.jimmybrewer.co.uk/