Tremendous country record from handyman with a banjo, JP Harris.
As backstories go, the JP Harris version is right up there. Born in Montgomery, Alabama, his family moved to Apple, California when he was seven years old, subsequently relocating to Las Vegas, Nevada. Aged 14, he left school and home and began the travels that would frame many years of his life; much of this time spent living ‘off grid’. Initially moving to Oakland, California, Harris then lived the life of a hobo, crossing the USA by ‘freighthopping’ on trains. Eventually, he landed in Halifax, Vermont, where he spent more than a decade, before upping sticks again to Nashville, Tennessee. During his transient period, Harris worked a wide range of jobs and picked up skills and trades, some more useful than others, but including sheepherder, logger, heavy equipment operator, farm labourer, restoration carpenter, and occassional contraband handler. His main non-musical skill nowadays is carpentry and, when he’s not making music, Harris can be found building banjos, fixing historic houses, riding old motorcycles, or searching through scrap piles for useable refuse/restoration projects. Harris’ musical skills include writing songs, singing, playing guitar and clawhammer-style banjo playing.
“JP Harris is a Trash Fire” is Harris’ fifth album, following 2011’s debut album “I’ll Keep Calling” released shortly after his arrival in Nashville TN, “Home Is Where The Hurt Is” (2014), “Sometimes Dogs Bark at Nothing” (2018) and 2021’s “Don’t You Marry No Railroad Man“.
“JP Harris is a Trash Fire” was recorded over a period of nine months in 2023; it was recorded at The Bomb Shelter studios in Nashville, where the many previous acts to record include Margo Price, The Deslondes, The Alabama Shakes, Wreckless Eric and Hurray For The Riff Raff. The album was produced by JD McPherson, who was a member of the Robert Plant and Alison Krauss touring band in support of their “Raise the Roof” record; McPherson also contributes acoustic guitar and some backing vocals to Harris’ album. Harris describes his music as avant-country; he sees himself an outsider, with his music combining a punk rock ethos, folk art aesthetic, and workingman’s ballad.
Harris wrote nine of the ten songs on the LP. First up is ‘Old Fox‘, a definite country song, with an old fashioned feel to it, it features the Watson Twins on backing vocals; whereas ‘East Alabama‘ starts with fiddle and sees Harris looking back, to people and places from his formative years spent in Alabama “Oh, fare thee well, East Alabama, Did you leave, or did I let you go? Was I meant to stay or made for the leavin’? Either way, I think we’ll never know“.
‘Dark Thoughts‘ has prominent pedal steel guitar; you could say it’s a love song, of sorts, as the singer tells a girl of his “Dark thoughts About things I’ll do to you“. Moving on, ‘Charms & Letters‘ is a standout cut; it has Harris in reflective mood again, starting with “Ain’t it funny how certain things seem clearer When you watch ’em in a rear view mirror gettin’ small” and ending the song with “And just say, ‘He knew nothing much, of nothing else, A boy could do to leave a memory of himself’, Except to pen my bad behaviour, To a melody and hope there’s a saviour when I die“.
‘Trash Fire‘ is another standout; it sounds like something that the late Kris Kristofferson may have put together, appearing to be Harris’ rant against the (presumably Nashville-based) music business “Too much pit and not enough peach For the record men to meet me on my terms And meanwhile, the new revival fashionistas Frown me down for showing up sleeveless To their well-heeled, outlaw press soirees“, then “Oh, cause authenticity just don’t pay Flavour of the month, it’s the soup of the day“. ‘Write it all Down‘ is about a girl from Harris’ past; called Memphis Magnolia, she worked as a pole dancer in a bar, as he puts it “I weren’t no gent, she weren’t no lady“.
The record closes with the one song that wasn’t written by Harris, a cover of the 1981 Devo song “Beautiful World” (written by Devo members Gerald Casale and Mark Mothersage). Harris does a fine version of this great song, which he released as the first single from the album. It’s worth checking out the artwork for the single; it’s a simple, but brilliant nod to Devo.
If you like country music, then you really should give this record a listen; it’s a great, authentic country record, full of good songs. As Harris alludes to in the song ‘Trash Fire‘ he is at odds with much of the airbrushed, pop-centric output that comes from Nashville nowadays, but you wouldn’t want to put money on him conforming any time soon. Harris has a resonant voice, sounding at times like Neil Diamond, at others like Jim Croce. Just like a trash fire in a dumpster, it’s easy to see how this album could ignite Harris’ music career.
