One thing about Jonah Tolchin is that he’s not afraid to shake things up – his first releases could easily have seen him solidly pegged as a folky singer-songwriter, and then with 2022’s ‘Lava Lamp‘ he took a very distinct turn down a rockier, funkier and even grungier alleyway. Now on his new album ‘Dockside‘ we find him digging into a Muscle Shoals sensibility adding some more groove to his palette – recorded at Dockside Studios in Maurice, Louisiana, a favourite studio of artists including Dr. John, B.B. King, Levon Helm, Taj Mahal, Derek Trucks, Ani Difranco, and Mavis Staples which gives a strong hint of what to expect from the album. The release of ‘Dockside‘ on October 20th also marks the first album to come out on Clover Music Group, Tolchin’s newly established label.
Jonah Tolchin certainly has some admirers, with Dave Alvin describing him as “one of my favourite artists working on the highways today. He is one of the very rare, totally honest performers in the often artificial world of contemporary music. Like my heroes Lightning Hopkins or Merle Haggard, Jonah follows his own, unique path through American traditions and it’s always worthwhile to follow him down that path.”
