{"id":40672,"date":"2008-01-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/the-hunting-the-hope\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T11:20:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T11:20:12","slug":"the-hunting-the-hope","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/the-hunting-the-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hunting &#038; The Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\tComparisons can be a compliment or an albatross; I\u2018ve certainly been conscious of that danger when comparing artists whose work I\u2019ve enjoyed to iconic acts like <a href=\"%5C%22%5C%22%5C%22https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/de-nova\/%5C%22%5C%22%5C%22\">the Beatles<\/a>  and <a href=\"%5C%22%5C%22%5C%22https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/change-ep\/%5C%22%5C%22%5C%22\">Bruce Springsteen<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>So it was with at least one eyebrow raised that I read where Joe Thompson\u2019s one-sheet rather audaciously suggests he sometimes sounds like Johnny Cash &#8212; and damned if that isn\u2019t right on target.  There\u2019s a depth of tone and resonance and a sense of hard-won experience on several these tracks that grants Thompson a Cash-like authority over the listener\u2019s attention. The vibrato Thompson throws in sometimes also reminds me a bit of Steven Page of the Barenaked Ladies &#8212; not that the music sounds anything like that; it\u2019s more dirty-cheeked <st1:city><st1:place>Nashville<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> than tongue-in-cheek <st1:city><st1:place>Toronto<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>. Thompson\u2019s genre is <st1:city><st1:place>Americana<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, and that label has rarely sounded more apt than in the midst of this set of thinking-man\u2019s blue-collar country-folk\u2019n\u2019roll.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"\"\\\"\\\\\"MsoNormal\\\\\"\\\"\"\">Opener \u201cThese Days\u201d is a standout, featuring a great hook, punchy piano chords over acoustic rhythm guitar and a propulsive beat, with lithe electric guitar lines painting the corners. Maybe the neatest trick on this full-bodied track is that there are actually only two players on it, with co-producer and virtual one-man band Chris Cubeta handling drums, bass, electric guitar, piano and backing vocals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"\\\"\\\\\"MsoNormal\\\\\"\\\"\"\">The meditative, primarily acoustic \u201cOnly In The Night\u201d offers a pleasant interlude leading into the rollicking \u201cAnother Year \u2018Round The Bend,\u201d a full-tilt country boogie duet between Thompson and guest vocalist Julie Foster, who\u2019s an Emmylou Harris-ish dynamo.  Underneath all the fun lies a perceptive lyric about doing what you have to in order to live without regret.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"\\\"\\\\\"MsoNormal\\\\\"\\\"\"\">Other highlights include the Man In Black-inspired honky-tonk number \u201cBlack Out Magik,\u201d the appropriately sparky jangle-rock cut \u201cBottle Rocket\u201d and the dreamy, almost psychedelic alt-country ballad \u201cJuniper Haze.\u201d  (On a side note, I\u2019ve just gotta ask, does Cubeta ever work with anyone who ISN\u2019T phenomenally talented?  Hmm, let\u2019s see: Thompson, <a href=\"%5C%22https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/faithful-2\/%5C%22\">the Liars Club<\/a>, <a href=\"%5C%22http:\/\/www.myspace.com\/dannylanzetta%5C%22\" target=\"\"_blank\"\">Danny Lanzetta<\/a>, <a href=\"%5C%22https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/bad-out-there\/%5C%22\">Frank Carillo<\/a>&#8230; guess not.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"\\\"\\\\\"MsoNormal\\\\\"\\\"\"\">In one final comparison, Joe Thompson reminds me of <a href=\"%5C%22%5C%22%5C%22https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/artist\/mark-mckay-1422\/%5C%22%5C%22%5C%22\">Mark McKay<\/a>, another indie Americana artist who combines excellent songwriting with a strong sense of musicality and a kind of rich, organic appeal that hits you in the gut as much as the head.  <i>The Hunting &#038; The Hope<\/i> is an excellent start down what one hopes will be a long road for Thompson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":29144,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8119],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-40672","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-joe-thompson","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40672","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\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40672"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}