An undiminished belief in the guitar and amp combo.
In the seven years since McPherson released ‘Undivided Heart & Soul’ he has been trusted as the opening act and bandleader for three successive Robert Plant and Alison Krauss tours. Last time McPherson appeared on AUK’s radar was back in December 2018 when we covered his yuletide album ‘Socks’, a children’s picture book version of which was published just this month by Walker Books. An early stocking filler idea? McPherson released a ‘Warm Covers 2′ EP in 2022 which featured songs from Iggy Pop, The Pixies and Big Al Downing which mostly worked.
Last June, lead single ‘Sunshine Getaway’ heralded this new album’s release. The track is a co-write with Burkum and Torrey from The Cactus Blossoms but the lyrics are fun and surprisingly accessible, accepting as they are of long, cold winters people optimistically reset each year. At least in the US, summer eventually comes. “It’s just the same old same old, day after day/ Somebody send me a sunshine getaway“. The track definitely has a sunny disposition with an infectious, fuzzy, glam-rock inspired energy, and this gloss is later reapplied to another track ‘Baby Blues’.
Being JD McPherson, you’d expect an album reassuringly built on foundational rock ‘n roll. But other tracks on ‘Nite Owls’ include elements of new wave, post-punk or surf rock. On ‘Just Like Summer’ the sound ventures back to a time of big waves, large fenders and Silvertone guitars. McPherson says ‘Just Like Summer’ was the first song he wrote after he’d discovered the common thread between Dick Dale, Ennio Morricone and Depeche Mode. Quite. Another, ‘Shining Like Gold’ is perhaps a nostalgic nod to the golden decade of rock n roll. ‘The Phantom Lover of New Rochelle’ is just an enjoyable, time-travelling, swaying instrumental. More stand-alone tracks include ‘Don’t Travel through this Night Alone’ and ‘Nite Owls‘, the latter alluding to times when the sun doesn’t always shine so bright.
The music and the sound are the priorities to McPherson. Indeed, he mentions himself writing nonsense lyrics or lyrics objectively ridiculous. They’re not heavy or poignant but accompany the tunes well enough. The albm is an eclectic mix of tracks written over a period of time. They’ve been dusted off, reshaped, polished and recorded by McPherson and Alex Hall at Reliable Recorders in Chicago. JD McPherson is an All-American rock ‘n roll musician. He’s dedicated this album to Duane Eddy. If the intention was to “blend a big-string, reverb-y guitar style with the classic stuff… with a dash of surf”, job done.
