\u201cI don\u2019t know
If half of what I sing is true.
But every line was sung to you.\u201d
<\/i>
— \u201cIt Got Away From Me\u201d by Joe Pernice<\/p>\n
Joe Pernice is one of those names that, once you\u2019ve taken an interest in modern Americana \/ power-pop singer-songwriter music, just keeps surfacing.<\/p>\n
Through three decades as principal songwriter and lead voice of first Scud Mountain Boys, then Pernice Brothers\u2014not to mention serial side projects Chappaquiddick Skyline, The New Mendicants, and Roger Lion\u2014Joe Pernice has proven himself to be the epitome of the reliable craftsman, one of those writers who impresses you not with flash or topicality, but with the consistent intelligence and beauty of his art.<\/p>\n
Which is one of the reasons why it feels so counter-intuitive to read on New West\u2019s one-sheet that Pernice\u2019s new album Sunny, I Was Wrong<\/i> is technically his first official studio album of original material as a solo artist (not counting home recordings and covers albums). It\u2019s also a collection that taps into his deep roots in the singer-songwriter community, delivering tunes where he partners up with top-tier contemporaries and influences Aimee Mann, Rodney Crowell, Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub, the Mendicants), and Jimmy Webb.<\/p>\n
Sunny<\/i> further receives sterling support from an all-star team of players that includes a core band of Jim Creeggan (bass \/ Barenaked Ladies), Mike Evin (keys, vocals \/ solo), and Mike Belitsky (drums \/ Pernice Brothers, Neko Case), as well as notable guests including the superb Burke Carroll (pedal steel \/ many sessions), James Walbourne (guitars \/ Pretenders), and Pete Mancini (guitars \/ solo, Butchers Blind).<\/p>\n
Kickoff track \u201cPeace In Our Home\u201d is that rare bird, a calm and gentle kiss-off whose opening line says it all: \u201cThere\u2019ll be peace in our home when you\u2019re gone.\u201d It establishes the vibe for the whole album\u2014homespun tunes whose deceptive simplicity soon reveals layers of both sound and meaning as the arrangements and narratives unfold. Early highlight \u201cDeep Into The Dawn\u201d finds Mann blending voices with Pernice to lovely effect, a story-song told over a bed of acoustic strums decorated with evocative chiming piano accents.<\/p>\n
Pernice\u2019s voice is attractive like an antique dresser, resonant and comfortably worn, qualities brought to the fore on shambling slow rocker \u201cIf You Go Back to California,\u201d featuring guest (and track co-writer) Michael McKenzie\u2019s Southwest-flavored electric guitar. The entire lyric is a single chorus repeated three times with subtly different phrasings, with a big, languorous guitar solo between the second and third; it\u2019s less a song than a vibe: sunny, dry, relaxed.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The gorgeous \u201cForce Feed The Fire\u201d opens with sublime acoustic guitar (Pernice) and shimmering piano (Evin), a contemplation about living inside your head, healing yourself and overcoming your fears, and then we\u2019re into \u201cThe Black And The Blue,\u201d easygoing Americana with a wise lyric about figuring out your life and priorities. Pernice\u2019s delicate yet confident vocal welcomes you in on this first of three tunes featuring Walbourne, as well as a jamming piano break from Evin. Rodney Crowell guests on \u201cIt Won\u2019t Be Me,\u201d zooming in on decision time for a relationship with a lyric that\u2019s both wise and tart: \u201cHalf-hearted loving is a waste of life \/ They say once is plenty if you\u2019re doing it right. \/ Sure-bet money I can guarantee \/ You might settle for someone but it won\u2019t be me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Norman Blake contributes sweet harmonies to album highlight \u201cI\u2019d Rather Look Away,\u201d a mid-tempo number about a wounded soul who can\u2019t stand the thought of politely greeting his ex in public. The subtly layered tune is lit up by electric, slide, and 12-string guitar work from fellow singer-songwriter Pete Mancini, recently revealed as a member of Pernice\u2019s touring band for his upcoming dates. Next up, the title track\u2014a confession of guilt to another ex\u2014features both Walbourne (acoustic guitar) and brother Bob Pernice (harmony vocals). Uncharacteristically for these sorts of laments, the narrator take responsibility: \u201cI\u2019m sorry if I thought you were \/ The mirror of my life and not your own \/ Sunny, I was wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the late going, the winsome \u201cIs It Serious\u201d features Pernice\u2019s spouse Laura Stein on harmony vocals in an arrangement anchored by Evin\u2019s smoky nightclub piano. \u201cTwenty-Thousand Times\u201d is a stately, rather mystical fable about being in a relationship with a troubled woman featuring a horn section of Josh Karp (trumpet) and Greg Kramer (trombone) across the second half. Closing things out, \u201cIt Got Away from Me\u201d features Jimmy Webb\u2019s lilting piano on this elegy to a life that got away, with Andrew Joslyn\u2019s strings adding on before Webb puts the cherry on top with a very pretty solo.<\/p>\n
\u201cI blew half my life on things I can\u2019t explain,\u201d sings Pernice on the latter tune, somewhat of a headline for this album about achieving a certain age and reckoning with your missteps and regrets. Self-produced by Pernice, these songs are framed in the same gently burnished sound\u2014everything rendered in golden, shimmery tones\u2014that Pernice Brothers albums often have been. Sunny, I Was Wrong<\/i> is a superb and often moving look back from midlife by an exceptional singer-songwriter and his phenomenally talented group of friends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":35456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[11172],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-47352","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-joe-pernice","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/47352","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=47352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/47352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=47352"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=47352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}