Jonathan Byrd’s seventh solo outing is a gem-encrusted delight
A 2009, late-night impromptu sidewalk song session outside the subsequently incinerated Montreal venue, the Green Room, planted the seeds for this album. Jonathan Byrd was touring Canadian venues with buddy Corin Raymond, and that evening the latter introduced Byrd to singers Alexa Dirks and Andrina Turenne. The self-titled album by their five-piece Winnipeg-based band, Chic Gamine, won the Best Roots & Traditional Album Juno that year. Totally aware of (and stunned by) the musical magic that had occurred, Byrd was soon dreaming of capturing those sounds.
The venue for the reunion proved to be a small cottage in Gimli, 50 miles north of Winnipeg. Joining the aforementioned quartet of singers that February day in 2011 were Curb Lund alumni Grant Siemens (electric/steel guitar), Joanna Miller (drums, vocals — who has worked with Mary Gauthier), and Rejean Ricard (bass, from local band the Wind Ups). Apart from Raymond, Dirks, and Tutenne, Byrd found himself standing in a room full of strangers including engineer Jaxon Haldane, who had recruited the support players. Two days later, the ten-song You Can’t Outrun the Radio was a living, breathing entity. Magic happened. In the three years that have since elapsed, Steve Conn organ overdubs were added, and Chris Scruggs steel guitar can be heard on one song.
Whether the sounds achieved are rowdy and rambunctious as in album opener “.38 Baby,” or quasi-acapella (handclaps and a kick drum support) as in “Poor Johnny” — a gospel-inflected vocal harmony delight — Byrd’s You Can’t Outrun the Radio captures in spades the spirit of the sidewalk sing-along that spawned it.
Around 11:00 p.m. on the Wednesday night before Memorial Day weekend 2003, at the Crow’s Nest on Kerrville’s Quiet Valley Ranch, I spotted this tall, lean, guitar-carrying shadow propped against the tailgate of a truck. Minutes later at a nearby campfire, that figure — Byrd — began delivering a stream of jaw-dropping songs, and justifiably won the festival’s prestigious songwriting contest a few days later. In the years since, remaining faithful to his North Carolina roots, he has resisted “going Nashville.” Musically speaking, across a catalogue that now boasts seven amazing solo albums and a pair of fine male/female duo side-trips, Byrd has never stood still. There’s always something sonically different on his recordings, added to which Jonathan’s skill with word and melody has never wavered, be it an engaging tale or a blistering rocker.
Where “.38 Baby” focused on love and rocked, the ensuing waltz-paced ballad “Slip Away” initially portrays a seemingly carefree “daddy’s girl, dancing down in Mexico.” Her life south of the border is, however, a little more complicated — sordid even — and ends with her return to Northern California “toe-tagged and skin and bone.” Featuring the aforementioned Scruggs solo “Starlight,” and set mostly on a cross-country train, we’re privy to opening episode of one woman’s life journey but not its conclusion. “Mama’s Got Wheels” is a slow-burning affair, prominently featuring drum, bass, and organ, with soulful vocals from Alexa and Andrina their contributions throughout this album simply shine — while the only cover here is the Robin Vaarmeyer/Corin Raymond collaboration “A Big Truck Brought It.” No stranger to a slyly worded lyric and solidly constructed around Siemens country guitar twang, Byrd selected a diamond that he delivers semi-spoken.
In the sonically and lyrical haunting “Pale Rider” the principle character – as did Clint once upon a time – sits astride a “white horse.” The storylines in this suite of songs take us to numerous locations across North America, for instance “Working Offshore” is a cautionary tale set in Houston and on its offshore oil rigs circa 1958. Introduced by a numbly picked acoustic guitar, “You Can’t Outrun the Radio” finds Byrd recall the speeding ticket he picked up while on a working road trip in Kansas. Co-written with 2007 Kerrville song contest winner Anthony da Costa, Jonathan lays his seventh solo set to rest with the sensual love song “Close Enough to Touch.”
If there was one iota of justice in this world, Jonathan Byrd would be a platinum-selling, internationally acknowledged household name. Sadly that’s not yet the case, but for those who listen and know, damn he makes great records.
Footnote – I’m not aware that he promotes them aggressively, so after hearing You Can’t Outrun The Radio, if your appetite for Byrd isn’t sated, scoot over to his Bandcamp site where you’ll find for download a swathe of radio station and festival ‘live’ recordings.
Brought to you from the desk of the Folk Villager.
