“It takes a worried man to sing a worried song/Had no idea I’d been singing for so long.”
On his latest solo release, Duane Jarvis offers up a now familiar smorgasbord that ranges from soulful ballads (“Can’t Build A Better Love”) to his trademark brand of humorous, herky-jerky country funk (“Coulda Shoulda Woulda”). Jarvis’ vocals have gotten better with each album; working with writers such as Tim Krekel, Peter Case, Kevin Bowe and Tim Carroll, he convincingly delivers some of the best lines of his career here.
“Spread My Soul Too Thin”, written with Chuck Prophet (who plays bass on the track), exudes that end-of-the-world Leonard Cohen vibe Prophet seems to know so well. Featuring Tammy Rogers’ chilling cello, this track takes Jarvis into new and exciting artistic territory, and he seems quite comfortable there.
If Jarvis has had a shortcoming, it is that, like fellow guitar monster Buddy Miller, he has tended to keep his guitar playing mostly in check on his own recordings. But Jarvis gets edgy and dangerous on the murky “Prodigal Daughter” (“She drank one too many 24-ouncers/Jessie ran off with the tattooed bouncer”), and on the album-closing “Happy Town”, he unleashes his inner guitar dog with one of the loudest, loosest, go-nuts solos you’re liable to hear in this or any year. Delicious goes from mellow to meltdown, and is easily the best album of Jarvis’ career.