“Listening is like running down a mountain on a switchback trail, the sound of surprise generating its own momentum.  There’s a punk glee inside the bluegrass craft — and a punk vehemence inside the bluegrass smile.”– Greil Marcus 

OVERCOME, the debut album by The Jones Street Boys on Brooklyn’s Smith Street Records Release: October 2nd, 2007

***Featuring punk legend Jon Langford (The Mekons/Waco Brothers)*** 

*October residency at New York’s fabled The Living Room*

“For a band of Brooklynites, the Jones Street Boys kick up a pretty good hillbilly stomp on Overcome (Smith Street). They play their catchy originals with virtuosic mandolin jams and honky-tonk piano fillers, and top them with off-kilter, good-time harmonies.”– Time Out New York

New York Bluegrass, blues, and good old fashioned rock and roll… The Jones Street Boys are steeped in American music. Their role models are as various as their moods. From the pop-punk infectiousness of “Last Time,” to the country-tinged promise of “One Last Love Song,” featuring a surprising guest lead vocal by Jon Langford, The Jones Street Boys give every listener something with which to identify.
Veterans of

New York City’s music scene, The Jones Street Boys bring it home on OVERCOME (Smith Street Records; October 2nd, 2007), their debut album. Twelve tracks showcase the band’s signature sound: tight compositions played with a loose, live feel. Master storytellers, they sing and play with a rare ease and confidence that allows the words and notes room to breathe. Indeed, allows these elements to be the story, as well as tell it.                                                   

And in the end, it all comes down to the story. Four of the Boys are songwriters, and nine of OVERCOME’S tracks are original compositions. Love and loss manifest themselves in a multitude of forms on the album, from a captain and his ship in “Julia Belle” to the hesitant connections—to a friend or a bottle—in “Hello Lonesome” and “Oh Night.” The title track, “Overcome,” articulates the foundation of all the Jones Street Boys’ work: the dichotomy of misfortune. To be overcome—capsized by time and emotion—creates the opportunity to overcome, rising above. In the tradition of timeless songwriting, OVERCOME relates inevitable struggle, and it is the breath of hope that finally radiates from each song.

Three courageous covers round out the album and pay homage to heroes: Bill Monroe, John Hartford, and The Band. “Walls of Time,” “

Tall Buildings,” and “Twilight” shine with the Boys’ reworking of traditional arrangements. In particular, they have made “Walls of Time” their own. This bluegrass jam standard is here transformed into a love song as rich and alive as the soil in which the whistling pines grow. Co-author Peter Rowan has even given it his expert stamp of approval. And “Tall Buildings” has become the Boys’ signature sign-off, the haunting harmony in their partially acapella presentation never fails to ground their audience to the present, as colored by the bittersweet past and future.

UPCOMING LIVE SHOWS:

10.1.07       The Living Room (Oct. Residency)  NYC
10.8.07       The Living Room (Oct. Residency)  NYC
10.15.07     The Living Room (Oct. Residency)  NYC
10.22.07     The Living Room (Oct. Residency)  NYC
10.29.07     The Living Room (Oct. Residency)  NYC

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 26th, 2007 at 9:20 am and is filed under Come see us play, Album Info, Announcements, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.