What do we think of Jerry Joseph? Well, whilst setting up the date for today’s premiere of the title track of his new album the following phrase was used: “would absolutely want to premiere any song by Jerry Joseph!” And, to make a slight aside about this site – we have no interest in not openly being enthusiastic about people who make the music that makes up sit upright and pay attention. As another writer commented “This is great! I love Jerry – brilliant guy! I think I’ve seen him play this one live.” We could be all arch and coy and cool about this music stuff – but isn’t it just so much better to proffer praise where it’s deserved? Obliquity, who needs it?
This is a passionately upbeat song about survival mechanisms for both literal storms and romantic storms – if you’ve battened down well enough you’ll survive both. It was recorded in NYC and produced by Eric “Roscoe” Ambel, and features a band made up of some of New York’s best players. Joseph recalls, “I just listened to ‘The Man Who Would Be King’ for the first time in a while. The day I wrote it was a beautiful day in a dark time, the election was looming, we had gone through a summer of putting on gas masks and fighting the feds trying to take our city, plus massive fires and Covid, and in the middle of it all were my kids and the oak tree and the gravity of love.”
Eric Ambel noted that “I love albums that are a journey and as we went along I was trying to bring something different to each of the songs. We were getting some cool stuff and Jerry continued to pull out more interesting things. He told me the story of his recent attempts at the harmonica and as a guy who’s struggled with the harp himself, I felt the joy coming out of the way he played it. We ended up using that cool harp on four songs including ‘The Man Who Would Be King’. That one really gave me that special throw your hat in the air rodeo feeling.”
The new album ‘You’re The Man Who Would Be King‘ is out September 29th on Cosmo Sex School Records.
Got to love Jerry Joseph! Definitely on the side of the angels. Thanks for posting this.