Having done this gig for as long as I have, you can imagine that the demands for a music reviewer’s time can be great, especially from artists looking for that one review to help them make their big break. But, between a full-time job, a side gig DJ’ing, three kids, a wife, and the constant allure of trying to break the high score of “Pac-Man” at the local 7-Eleven, I don’t always have the time I’d like to listen to such artists these days.<\/p>\n
Devil’s Red,<\/em> the debut effort from Jesse Manley, has been floating around my desk for several weeks, when I finally was curious enough to pop it into the CD player of my car and give it a spin or two. In the end, it turned out to be worth the time and effort – and while Manley’s style of music might not appeal to everyone, fans of folk or Americana will find much to enjoy on this one.<\/p>\n Without a bio in front of me, I would have bet that multi-instrumentalist Manley was from Australia, the lilt of his voice reminding me of a higher-pitched Peter Garrett at times. Good thing I’m not a betting man, as Manley is a Montana native now based in Colorado. But then, his story-telling style of songwriting should have been my first clue that I was wrong.<\/p>\n To call Manley’s style of music folk is not entirely accurate. If anything, his minimalist approach to instrumentation – usually starting with banjo and building only when it’s absolutely called for in the song – and story-telling style reminds me more of Americana, akin to people like Marty Robbins, Dave Van Ronk or early Bob Dylan. Yet with such modest instrumentation and vocal style, it packs a serious punch that makes the listener sit up and take interest.<\/p>\n Perhaps the strongest of these songs is “Vagabond Hill,” a perfect example of how a song could, once upon a time, truly tell a story and even have a moral of sorts. A tale of unrequieted love and longing for what could have been, complete with a sub-plot of jealousy, Manley and his partner in crime Dave Willey craft a track that ends far, far too soon. (Have to admit that I was disappointed with the ending of the story – but that’s more of a personal preference, not a knock on the song itself.)<\/p>\n Throughout its ten songs, Devil’s Red<\/i> challenges the listener to move away from the concept of pre-packaged three-minute pop songs and actually wrap their ears around songs that challenge you to listen and to think. From the opening banjo licks on the lead-off track “Someday,” you know that this isn’t going to be a typical listening experience – and, in all honesty, that’s a good thing in this example.<\/p>\n But to simply call this disc folk music – or even a more inclusive label like Americana – is technically incorrect. The more I listen to this disc as a whole, the more I’m convinced that Manley’s music really can’t be easily classified or pigeon-holed. Just because a song like “Someday” is heavy on use of the banjo, a track like “Find Your Way Home” (featuring violin work by Anthony Salvo) is more of a lilting ballad that defies easily classification. Just when you think you can nail down Manley’s style, he changes it on you, albeit subtly.<\/p>\n Manley is able to keep the listener interested throughout the disc (which is a surprisingly quick listen); songs like “Find Your Way Home,” “Musical Chairs” and “Oh Lord” all are pleasing to the ear, even if Manley’s accented singing sometimes gets to be a little tiring on the ears. Otherwise, it’s an entertaining ride through a menagerie of acoustic instruments – I personally loved the mandolin touches I heard, though I have to wonder what the “Baldwin Fun Machine” is.<\/p>\n Devil’s Red<\/em> probably won’t make it to the top of the Billboard<\/em> charts, and labels won’t see how an artist like Manley could sell 10 million copies right out of the box. But for those who are more open-minded to their musical experiences and who enjoy songs that hearken back to earlier days of folk rock (think pre-Peter, Paul & Mary), you’re going to be in for a treat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[8731],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-42372","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-jesse-manley","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42372","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=42372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42372"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42372"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}