The American music scene has been filled with songwriters who
\npride themselves on being storytellers. Some of them capture
\npeople’s hearts, such as Bruce Springsteen or Bob Dylan. Others try
\nto capture the darker side of life and remind people that not
\neverything is peaches and cream.<\/p>\n
John Washburn is another in this long line of
\nsinger\/songwriters. On his debut release
\nStumbling Still Warm…<\/i>, he tries to capture a slice of
\nAmericana with a folk\/country-tinged approach to his music. While
\nhe does show great promise in his craft, sometimes his approach to
\nthe music is a touch too soft.<\/p>\n
As a singer\/songwriter, Washburn has a familiarity about his
\nmusic, yet it’s difficult to pigeonhole him or to compare him to
\nanyone else out there. He’s not quite as rambling as Dylan, he
\ndoesn’t have the flowing poetry or delivery style of Springsteen,
\nhe’s not as dark as Tom Waits. At this stage in his career, I’d
\nhave to say that Washburn sounds like dozens of other singers in
\nthis same category of music who are fighting for recognition. This
\nisn’t meant as a slam against Washburn (or anyone else, for that
\nmatter), but it sometimes seems like Washburn is more interested in
\npresenting himself to people rather than setting himself apart from
\nthe crowd.<\/p>\n
Washburn’s true power as a songwriter seems to come mostly in
\nthe faster-tempoed, more contemporary-sounding tracks. “It’s
\nAlright” is a pleasant enough way to start this disc, while songs
\nsuch as “Fool For You” and “Sometimes Trouble” help to deliver
\nWashburn’s message the best. These work better than the
\nskiffle-oriented “My Only Friend,” a track which has traces of
\nLonnie Donnegan and good-ol’ Western swing in it.<\/p>\n
This being said, one of the prettiest tracks on
\nStumbling Still Warm…<\/i> is “Wait (A River Song),” a track
\nwhich demonstrates that Washburn can wax eloquent and write a
\nslower-tempoed, softer-edged song that works well. The lyrics are
\npure poetry, while the music helps to carry the listener off into
\nWashburn’s world. The follow-up track, “She’s A Lullaby,” isn’t
\nquite as successful, but is still pleasant enough.<\/p>\n
If only some of the other tracks had worked as well. “In The
\nRain” sometimes sounds like Washburn is having difficulty following
\nthe beat of the song, while others such as “Half My Life” and
\n“Satellite,” while not failures at all, just don’t convey the same
\npower and urgency.<\/p>\n
For a debut effort,
\nStumbling Still Warm…<\/i> demonstrates that Washburn has what
\nit takes to make it, and it should be interesting to watch his
\nprogress as a songwriter and a musician.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26097,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6699],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-37312","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-john-washburn","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37312"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37312"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}