It’s not uncommon for artists to cool down a bit once they’re a few discs into recording careers. Maybe they lose something of their initial creative fire. Perhaps they’re a little less hungry.
But such concerns can be set to one side ’til another day and for a different case. Because California guitar wizard Jinx has stepped up an already formidable game. Here in lung-bursting, strapping evidence are the ear-stealing fretboard conjury and tunefully drawled, cat-on-barstool narratives that earlier this year earned him a coveted Ameripolitan Award nomination. And truly, they’ve never rung out more impressively.
A layered and textured kicks-festival, Twang-Tastic, Jinx’s fifth CD, finds our hero once more digging boot-heels into country-boppin rockabilly and swingalong surf instrumentals with raw enthusiasm. What he does with his guitar is so amazing it could be dangerous. We’re lucky he wields it for the forces of good. Piercingly trebly, kaleidoscoped flutter-riffs spark lightninglike up and down the fretboard, occasionally pausing to revel in the spark-showering moment. Then, it’s back to the swaybacked lockdown rhythms that keep feet on the hardwood.
All the while, a reliably rollicking, unstoppable force generated cooperatively by bassman Joe Kyle Jr. and drummer Ken Owen makes good-time magic possible. (These gentlemen add to the majority of the rocketing tracks, though others occasionally step in.) Also making important contributions are sax player Doug Rowan and David Phillips, pedal steel. The compound proves detonative; one senses they’ve all forgotten more about laying down rock’n’roll sounds than many others will ever know.
Truth be told, I honestly don’t believe Jinx Jones ever will lose the fire.
Recommended “Metalflake Sky,” “Nothing Left To Burn,” “Wham Bam Boogie,” “Too Many Chicks,” “Beat Crazy Baby,” “Jinx’s Guitar Boogie”
Jinx Jones – Twang-Tastic! (VibroSound)
