Search - Jonathan Byrd :: The Law and the Lonesome

The Law and the Lonesome
Jonathan Byrd
The Law and the Lonesome
Genres: Country, Folk, Pop
 
  •  Track Listings (10) - Disc #1

A stalwart of modern folk music, singer/guitarist Jonathan Byrd constantly evolves in new musical directions and each incarnation has proven to be masterful. The Law and the Lonesome brings together the best of his souther...  more »

     
?

Larger Image

CD Details

All Artists: Jonathan Byrd
Title: The Law and the Lonesome
Members Wishing: 1
Total Copies: 0
Label: Waterbug Records
Original Release Date: 1/1/2008
Re-Release Date: 7/22/2008
Genres: Country, Folk, Pop
Styles: Bluegrass, Traditional Folk
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 678277165120

Synopsis

Album Description
A stalwart of modern folk music, singer/guitarist Jonathan Byrd constantly evolves in new musical directions and each incarnation has proven to be masterful. The Law and the Lonesome brings together the best of his southern roots and the increasingly strong influence of Texas. Full of desperate people and their dark familiars - crows, coyotes, and sudden storms - The Law and the Lonesome has an epic feel. Berklee grad and fellow producer Chris Bartos digs into the darkness with a sweeping and spare sonic landscape: a haunting 5-string violin, clanging electric guitars, mandolin, and double bass. Also joining Byrd on The Law and the Lonesome is Corin Raymond, from Toronto, Canada's own The Undesirables.
 

CD Reviews

An album to savour.
D. Menashy | Hendon, London United Kingdom | 08/05/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)

"An album that rewards close attention. Let the epic yet understated soundscape wash over you whilst you discover the twists and turns lurking within the lyrics.

JB has produced another one to cherish - I unreservedly recommend all of his albums."
Not at all like you expect
moonwomanone | down around the No Hotel | 04/26/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Jonathan Byrd is a renegade. He's a skinny southern boy who looks like he probably carries a switchblade knife and knows how to use it. He's a charmer with an accent that fills the air with the smell of magnolias in the moonlight. He's a musician who enters the venue in a three piece suit and a straw hat.



He's a hell of a storyteller. And his songs are almost all story telling songs. I bought this CD after seeing him live, locally. There is really no way to describe his voice, I'd say he's a singer songwriter in the vein of Hank Williams - the REAL Hank Williams, Hank Senior.



The song Clean begins "There's a jackknife out on Highway 10, it's the biggest thing I've ever seen

I'm late to meet the candy man and it's been a long time since I've been clean."

No mistaking those words, or the absolute ache of need in his voice.



Prairie Girl is a lovesong written for a woman who is leaving. He asks her if she could leave him "just the way I found you, in your green dress the color of the sun all around you." Who could leave, after pretty words like that?



But the one I bought the CD for was new, the night I heard him perform it. Coyote is a spare song, no extra words, no extra notes. 'you'll find a trace,a barbed-wire scar across his face. Fading like a midnight mile, I saw Coyote.'



The best song on this amazing CD. Maybe closer to country than folk, depending on your leanings, but Jonathan Byrd SHOULD be famous. I'm kinda glad he isn't, because I get to introduce people to his music."