"Stunningly
Haunting: Jelly Jar’s new CD, Preserved, is a
gripping acoustic powered trip. Songwriter Tom Metcalf’s
haunting banjo adds a surreal string to Jelly Jar’s modern roots
powered journey. His mouth full of marbles New Orleans drawl
adds an otherworldly edge to a kind of spooky yet uptempo ride.
This is one fun and thought provoking listen. The band’s
other songwriter, Rick Duszynski has a more contemporary, Brooks and
Dunn like vocal style which helps cuts like Man that’s Austin
really stand out. In addition, the rest of the band tears it
up, which makes Jelly Jar essential listening for anyone looking for
an alternative to modern country and folk." - Richard Amery,
Kenora Daily Miner and News, Ontario
"Jelly
Jar's new Preserved is a stone pleasure, 10 tracks from a
bluegrass jam session featuring backing vocalist Karen Peters, lately
of the femme group Hot Flash. Peters plays Emmylou to a room
full of Grams on an album to pull out when you need to describe the
Austin sound." - Margaret Moser, The Austin Chronicle
"Carrying
on the tradition of making a new kind of music." - John Aielli,
KUT 90.5 Austin
"Mixing
in the twang of the Delta with rugged, crunchy vocals and washes of
sound, this is some of the most compelling hybrid music yet."
- CDBaby.com
"This CD is a ton of
fun. Tunes that you can't listen to sitting down. Some
lyrics are just plain fun, others are both thoughful and beautiful.
I love this CD!" - JD Highland, at CDBaby.com
"Four
stars. Sounds exactly like the cover, if you can believe that.
I described this to a friend as being 'exactly like Tom Waits,
not in the sound, because they really sound nothing like Tom Waits,
but in the way that once you hear them, it's hard to compare them
to anything but themselves.' This may be the least helpful review
ever given, but you'll know what I mean after you buy the cd.
Also, one of the singers makes me think of Bender from Futurama, which
only helps make the songs cooler." - at CDBaby.com
Maria
Mesa of Atown Records had this to say in her review for Austin Daze:
So I pop
in to Gino’s Italian Grill, which is one of my favorite South
Austin dives. They’ve got good food, good live music and
plenty of ice cold Shiner bock. A guy named Greg who is one
of the owners will walk up and tell you funny jokes even if he’s
never met you. (But since he knows me pretty well, he never leaves
me alone.)
It happened
to be my lucky night, because unbeknownst to me a band I’ve
never heard of is throwing their CD release party. I watch them
set up, and I can tell they all look like seasoned musicians. One
of them looks familiar- Albert Besteiro from “del Castillo”
with guitar in tow. Del Castillo’s singer Alex is hanging
out with his wife and child- so by now I’m thinking this must
be a pretty good thing.
Through
the haze of Shiners and a few free rounds from friends, I can tell
Jelly Jar is a special thing. The vocal talents are obvious, the musicianship
is sharp, there’s good songwriting and poetic, illustrative
lyrics. Obviously, I went ahead and bought the CD. It
wasn’t until the next day after 3 advils and a double espresso
latte that I popped it into my player and realized what a great thing
this band is.
Imagine
vocals somewhere between Tom Waits and Dr. John, without consciously
trying to sound like either. Imagine storyteller type lyrics that
avoid clichés, but are able to pull them off when they do happen.
Throw in some creative instrumentation like banjo and accordion,
then display it in an alternative blues, folk and country format.
That’s a clue of what’s going on here.
Most of
the songs feature Tom Metcalf on vocals, with his raspy backwoods
drawl and wry delivery. Wisely, some songs feature vocals by Rick
Duszynski to balance things out and cleanse the palette. What
really shines here (aside from the unique vocals and musicianship)
is the songwriting. Haunting and melodic, rich in both blues and folk,
the dreamlike state and creative imagery captured here will get you.
The track entitled “Man That’s Austin” is one of
the best Austin tributes since Doug Sahm’s “Get A Life.”
Rick del
Castillo provides his expertise in the knob twiddling department (producer
and engineer) and Karen Peters does some great background vocal work.
Put all of that on the rock solid foundation provided by bassist
Charlie Irwin and drummer Gary Devries and you’ve got a classic
CD that will spend plenty of time in your player. This CD gets
a 7.5 from me.
