I should have some respect for Mark Olson. He might not have
\nbeen the founder of alt-country, but as a member of The Jayhawks,
\nhe helped to shape the genre into what it is today. With his new
\n“group”, The Original Harmony Ridge Creekdippers (which features
\nhis wife Victoria Williams and long-time friend Mike “Razz”
\nRussell), Olson has continued to push forward a more folk-oriented
\nversion of alt-country – one which wouldn’t be embraced by anyone
\nexcept devotees of the pure form of the genre.<\/p>\n
Maybe this is why Olson’s latest effort,
\nMy Own Jo Ellen<\/i>, doesn’t have a user-friendly feel to it.
\nThe 10 songs which make up this disc do tell some interesting
\nstories at times, but just doesn’t have the same enchanting feeling
\nthat so many other albums in this genre do. Olson seems to take the
\nstance that you either are with him on this musical journey or
\nyou’re left behind; either way, he’s got somewhere that his music
\nis taking him. This might not be the best way to welcome the
\nuninitiated.<\/p>\n
Olson is not the strongest vocalist, a weakness which is evident
\nthroughout
\nMy Own Jo Ellen<\/i>. This isn’t to say that it’s inappropriate
\nfor the style of music that is created here; the folk-like
\natmosphere almost calls for a voice like Olson’s at times. Tracks
\nlike “Ben Johnson’s Creek,” “Rosalee” and “Walking Through Nevada”
\nare evidence of this, and mark some of the strongest moments on the
\ndisc.<\/p>\n
If only the bulk of
\nMy Own Jo Ellen<\/i> were like this. It’s not that songs such as
\n“Someone To Talk With” or “Diamond Davey” are bad, but the manner
\nin which the songs are delivered almost encourages the listener to
\npush them into the background, thus losing any message the tracks
\nmay have. This, I don’t think, was Olson’s intention.<\/p>\n
\nMy Own Jo Ellen<\/i> is also the kind of disc which takes much
\nmore than a few listens to really show the power it has. The first
\ntime I tried to listen to it, I was overwhelmed, and had to turn it
\noff. A few listens later, certain tracks started to show their
\nheads, suggesting they had more in store than one could pick up on
\na cursory listen or two. The question is how many people – other
\nthan those who have walked this musical path with Olson – will be
\nwilling to make such an investment.<\/p>\n
\nMy Own Jo Ellen<\/i> requires the listener to stop and think
\nabout what’s being said. Olson puts on a serious face throughout
\nthe course of the album – which might also be part of the
\nunderlying problem. With such a disc, even a slight break in the
\ntension created in these stories may have helped things along.
\nRegrettably, there is none.<\/p>\n
\nMy Own Jo Ellen<\/i> is a disc which should please long-time fans
\nof Olson’s, even those who have followed him since his days with
\nThe Jayhawks. If you’re a newcomer to this style of music, you
\nmight want to get a little better feeling of the genre before you
\ntackle this one. After all, you need to learn to read before you
\ntackle
\nWar And Peace<\/i>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28077,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7618],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-39471","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-mark-olson-the-original-harmony-ridge-creekdippers","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39471","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=39471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39471"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}