featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
November 5, 2023
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust
I'll start with the takeaway. You simply won't find a better
lyrics sheet this year than Jeffrey Martin's Thank God We Left the
Garden (Fluff & Gravy). Recorded on solo guitar to two cheap
microphones in an 8x10 shack in the artist’s Portland backyard, these eleven
songs show a conviction for the beauty and importance of words carefully,
meaningfully arrayed. I don’t hear the clicks of the heater, the barking dogs
or the trucks passing by, but I do hear the steady beating of Jeffrey Martin’s
heart.
We’ve spoken well of Martin’s previous work, especially 2014’s Dogs In the Daylight and his last record, One Go Around from 2017, both starkly deployed collections of thoughtful contemporary folk. Thank God strips down those already quiet arrangements, and amplifies instead the songwriter’s reflections on matters of meaning, compassion, and moments of connection. On “Quiet Man”, Martin sings: You can meet God in a cigarette just the same as in a sermon / And the devil’s always listening to those who are deserving. It’s in this spirit that he marches out into the dark, rain-damp streets on the lullaby waltz, “Walking”: If you stay up late enough / Stoplights play for no one / The dogs are gone to dream. These are songs from that night shift.
As the title might suggest, these songs are also steeped in traditionally religious language and mythology, though Martin’s perspective is far from orthodox. On “Garden” he imagines God as delighted with the messy consequences of the Eden episode: I want to find out for certain / If I’m here on purpose / As if knowing would save me / From the things that have made me / As if the mess that I’m making / Isn’t really a blessing. In The Gospel According To Jeffrey Martin, the emphasis is not on beliefs or convictions, but rather on our common seeking, the questions we share. “Paper Crown” imagines us all as searchers: It’s okay / Everybody feels the same way / Everybody’s too afraid to say / What they haven’t found. Answers are overrated.
Even as he walks the streets, even as he strums alone in his backyard shack, on Thank God We Left the Garden, Jeffrey Martin demonstrates a great amount of compassion. “Red Station Wagon” is a genuinely moving story of a young man’s regret for neglecting a friend’s tentative confessions: You feel like a child that the God of all forgot to name / Like he gave you a heart but he did not give you a place. There are lovesongs and moments of meeting on the sessions, along with an abiding recognition of that we’re all just fumbling our way through the same questions. On the beautiful “There Is a Treasure”, he finds liberation in the beautiful unimportance of our fleeting existence, a truth that might lead us to find compassion for every person’s story. For the sake of warmth, we are drawn to one other’s briefly flickering flame.
Fellow Portland artist Jon Neufeld adds atmospheric electric guitar on a few of these cuts, most of which are built around Jeffrey Martin’s understated acoustic picking or strumming. With a gruff but soulful voice like Nathaniel Rateliff, Martin chooses the rare moments to push his vocal beyond an intimate croon. His playing is never showy, rarely more than a bed for his lyrical delivery.
In last week's "review", we mentioned that Andrew Bryant's Prodigal began as a collection of demos that producer Bruce Watson encouraged the writer to flesh out with the help of a tremendous band. Jeffrey Martin apparently intended these unadorned recordings to serve as demos for something larger. Aside from Neufeld’s very selective guitar textures, we’re hearing Martin’s demos on Thank God, and after several passes through the collection I couldn’t imagine these songs in any other setting. Any additional noise might detract from the remarkable intimacy and breathtaking beauty he achieves.
- Jaime Wyatt, "Feel Good" Feel Good (New West, 23)
- JJ Grey & Mofro, "The Sea" Olustee (Alligator, Feb 23) D
- Jon Dee Graham, "There's a Ghost On the Train" Only Dead For a Little While (Strolling Bones, 23)
- Tucker Riggleman & Cheap Dates, "Shotgun" Restless Spirit (WarHen, Feb 17) D
- Willy Tea Taylor & Fellership, "Champagne On Ice" Great Western Hangover (Blackwing, 23)
- Ryan Davis & Roadhouse Band, "A Suitable Exit" Dancing On the Edge (Sophomore Lounge, 23)
- MJ Lenderman, "You Have Bought Yourself a Boat (live)" And the Wind (Live and Loose!) (Anti, Nov 17) D
- Damien Jurado, "Hello I'm Leaving" Passing the Giraffes (Maraqopa, 23) D
- Califone, "Comedy (V1)" villagers (deluxe edition) (Jealous Butcher, 23) D
- Frog, "Maybelline" Grog (tapewormies, Nov 17) D
- Empty Country, "Syd" Empty Country II (Get Better, 23)
- Shooter Jennings, "Carmelita (live)" Shooter Jennings & the Werewolves of Los Angeles Do Zevon (Black Country Rock, 23) D
- Josiah and the Bonnevilles, "Another Day At the Factory" Endurance (Josiah, 23)
- James Elkington, "Me Neither" Me Neither (No Quarter, Dec 8) D
- Rainbow Girls, "No Limits" Welcome To Whatever (Rainbow Girls, Dec 4) D
- John Craigie, "Bones (ft TK & the Holy Know-Nothings)" single (Craigie, 23)
^ Jeffrey Martin, "Paper Crown" Thank God We Left the Garden (Fluff & Gravy, 23)
- Joe Pug, "What Is Good Will Never Change" Sketch Of a Promised Departure (Nation of Heat, Mar 8) D
- Andrew Bryant, "Trampoline" Prodigal (Sentimental Noises, 23)
- Ha Ha Tonka, "Mississippi River" Blood Red Moon (Ha Ha Tonka, 23)
- Elliott BROOD, "Dried Up" Town (Six Shooter, 23)
- Chatham County Line, "Right On Time" Hiyo (Yep Roc, Jan 26) D
- Flatland Cavalry, "Best Days" Wandering Star (Interscope, 23)
- Shane Smith & the Saints, "Adeline" Norther (Geronimo West, Mar 1) D
- Vincent Neil Emerson, "Time Of the Rambler" Golden Crystal Kingdom (La Honda, Nov 10)
- Old Californio, "Come Undone" Metaterranea (Old Californio, 23)
- Joshua Ray Walker, "Voices (live)" I Opened For the Killers and All I Got Was Appendecitis EP (JRW, 23)
- Luther Dickinson, "Beulah Land (ft Allison Russell)" Magic Music For Family Folk (Antone's Nov 17) D
- Cat Power, "Mr Tambourine Man (live)" Sings Dylan: 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert (Domino, Nov 10)
- Spencer Burton, "Goodbye" North Wind (Dine Alone, Dec 8) D
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