Artist: Michael Johnathon
Album: Legacy
Label: Poet Man Records
Release Date: 3.30.20
Some might call it a timeline tune, others perhaps a sequel, Michael Johnathon calls his title track “Legacy” a derivative, in that he makes no bones about suggesting he was inspired by the sound, style and substance of Don McLean’s classic, “American Pie.” He shows that with this production of a nine-minute salute to 21 troubadours from past to present. Unlike McLean’s song, which had an examination of the decline of a Norman Rockwell America, Jonathon sticks mainly with performers and what they left us. Most stay unnamed, but with his well crafted lyrical clues, they are not hard to figure out. He takes a departure towards the end, when he sings about the decline of the record industry as the way it was when most of the artists covered were still “in the building.”
The rest of the album consists of some pleasant originals, “The Coin” and “The Twinkie Song” were standouts for me along with Johnathan’s solo treatment on Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies.” Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” and “Knocking’ On Heaven’s Door” are basic covers, but seem to fit the strange times we now find ourselves in. The closer “Woody’s Poem” is quite theatrical.
—Ken Spooner
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