John Fullbright instantly became one of the most exciting songwriters and performers around, irrespective of genre designations, when he splashed on to the radar in 2012 with his tremendous debut album, From the Ground Up. Then 24 years old (he just turned 25 last week), Fullbright wields both a staggering pen and a possessed, twangy growl that belie his supposed youth. Championed by the likes of the No Depression community, NPR and even the Grammys (his debut snagged a nomination for “Best Americana Album”), he’s the real deal – a songwriter’s songwriter from rural Oklahoma with the smarts and balls to tackle the light and the dark, the sacred and the secular, Genesis and Revelation with one of the strongest cocktails of intelligence, Mason-Dixon prose and gallows wit in music.
From the Ground Up put Fullbright in a class of songwriter that once touted the likes of Johnny, Waylon, Merle, Guy and Townes as the modern-day kings of a timeless sound and style. Songwriters of that caliber have been few and far between for too damn long in country, Americana or whatever the hell you choose to call it (Ryan Bingham, Hayes Carll, JTE and any present or past member of DBT being the glaring exceptions), but Fullbright gave outlaw country fans twelve damn fine reasons to be excited again with From the Ground Up.
“Gawd Above,” the album’s opening track, may be the best of the bunch, although it’s a waste of worthwhile breath to argue the superiority of one great tune compared to its eleven great siblings. Still, if you don’t know Fullbright’s music, the new video for “Gawd Above” is as fitting of an introduction as you can find. If you’re already a fan, then there’s little doubt you’ll returning time and again to fire up this clip dripping in brooding menace, swagger and sex, all the while Fullbright channels “Gawd above, Lord God Almighty” besting humans with “fire and lust.” Howling, “I made the Heaven and Earth, I made the stars above. Is it too much to ask for a little love?,” Fullbright gives his answer with his own guitar-slinging soundtrack and imagery that breaks down the imaginary wall between peep show and confessional.
John Fullbright – “Gawd Above”
John Fullbright’s From the Ground Up is available courtesy of Thirty Tigers.
*This post first appeared on Division St. Harmony on April 29, 2013.
Justin is a featured contributor to No Depression, and he resides on the outskirts of Indianapolis in Noblesville, Indiana. He writes his own music blog Division St. Harmony (@DivisnStHarmony), and he has been a senior contributor to The Silver Tongue and Laundromatinee.
Justin has an affinity for writing and music that is both rich in head and heart. Feel free to follow him on Twitter at @clashrebel & @DivisnStHarmony and on Facebook.
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