Artist: JP Harris
Album: Sometimes Dogs Bark at Nothing
Label: Free Dirt Records
Release Date: 10.05.2018
On Sometimes Dogs Bark at Nothing, singer/songwriter JP Harris provides a survey of country music, tackling wild rockabilly, crying-in-your-beer old school country, and Outlaw-style folk.
Harris has an atypical country voice, sounding just a bit like Neil Diamond, but his songwriting is pure Nashville. The perfect country sound is aided by his talented band of multi-instrumentalists who are able to nail every country song technique, from rollicking pedal steel to uplifting fiddle. It’s all the more impressive given that Harris made the album by bringing in rough acoustic demos and then inviting his band to craft their own parts.
One of the best examples of the psychic connection between Harris and his band is on the gentle, acoustic “When I Quit Drinking.” The pedal steel tracks Harris’ vocals through a beautiful song, with a chorus featuring Harris lamenting the memories that flood back to him when he stops drinking. The sad lyric and uplifting hook make for a perfect country moment.
Harris also does well with his throwback songs that sound almost like updated Patsy Cline tracks. “Long Ways Back,” with it’s lilting jazz leads, gentle drums, and ethereal chords, is timeless, and while Harris doesn’t have a particularly strong voice, the song has considerable charm.
The less successful tracks are the folk-inspired tracks. Songwriters like Steve Earle and Townes Van Zandt infused their performances with a vocal vulnerability that was so raw, it felt downright dangerous. On tracks like “Sometimes Dogs Bark at Nothing,” Harris doesn’t convey that same kind of unrestrained desperation. Harris is a great songwriter and producer Morgan Jahnig gets some truly beautiful sounds but the vocals occasionally feel a little too middle-of-the-road to do the songs justice.
—Steven Ovadia
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