JJ Ford Perfect Saturday Night Review by Gary Hill
I wouldn’t say that Ford’s voice sounds like Arlo Guthrie’s. Yet, somehow a lot of this makes me think of Guthrie. The set works between country, Americana, bluegrass, folk and a lot more. It’s an entertaining album for sure.
This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2015 Volume 5 at lulu.com/strangesound.
Track by Track Review
Perfect Saturday Night
With a real down home country sound, this is a mid-tempo piece. It’s classy and classic in tone.
Secondhand Dreams There is more of a folk rock vibe to this piece. It’s full of Americana. Sure, it still has plenty of country music in the mix, but that’s not the over-riding feature of this piece.
Listen Tonight This cut feels somewhere between the first two. I love the bluegrass elements on this. I also like the vocal harmonies quite a bit, too. It’s another strong track.
Broken Pieces An energetic old school country sound pervades this. This is a fun piece and one of my favorites of the set.
Find Me Folk merges with country on this rather ballad-like number.
Love Is Not a Word Although we still get some country in the mix, this is very much a folk meets rock kind of thing. It’s quite catchy, too.
If It Wasn’t for the Wind I would say that this is much more of a classic rock based piece. Sure, we still get a lot of country music in the mix. Overall, though, it’s more of a mellow rock and roll piece.
Every Time I Breathe This is a pretty perfect merging of country music and folk rock. It’s a solid tune that reminds me a lot of something Arlo Guthrie might do. Of course, as I said before, this whole set has a lot of Guthrie like moments to me.
What If Destiny
To me this feels like what you might get if you combined the music of Johnny Cash with that of Arlo Guthrie. I love the fiddle solo. It’s a great touch.
Fevered Heart This is a mellower folk styled tune. The strings add a lot to the mix. It’s a classy piece of music.
