Review: Americana-UK

Karen Jonas “Lucky, Revisited” (Independent, 2019)

“Hang on to your hats boys”… and so begins the first bit of advice from Karen Jonas at the start of ‘Ophelia’the first song on ‘Lucky, Revisited’. It would be well to take heed because what follows is a rip-roaring hoe down played with the sort of gusto any thrash-metal band would be proud of. But instead of de-tuned distortion imagine Albert Lee circa ‘Country Boy’ backing the hollering lungs of Maria Mckee. The song offers guidance (Jonas’ second piece of advice on the album) to one of Shakespeare’s ‘you fell for a wrong’ un girl’ characters: Ophelia + Hamlet with enough fervour to make the bard’s quill quiver. The question to Ophelia “But honey, didn’t you read Romeo and Juliet?” is smart, funny and indicative of Jonas’ writing quality.

It is a breathless start, and I guess it was intended to be. The story is that Jonas was working the post gig merch table, chatting with fans and so on, and concluded that her recorded albums just did not represent her live sound. As a result ‘Lucky, Revisited’ is her fourth album, but is actually a re-working of nine songs that appear across her first three records, plus two cover versions. What we get are songs that have grown; the children are honed, fit and at the top of their game, they turn heads and invite ‘goodness haven’t they got big’ comments. The sharpness springs from intense repetitions at gig after gig over half a decade. Compare Ophelia here to the version on 2016’s ‘Country Songs’ and you can calibrate the change in intensity. The original is good, but the ‘Lucky, Revisited’ album version lifts it to a new level. Credit must go to Jonas for having the courage to re-present her work. Credit too to Tim Bray for his blistering guitar work. But praise must also go to E.P Jackson bassist and engineer for this record. It is his approach to the recording that must have had Jonas chirruping that this was exactly the sound in her mind’s eye. This is engineer as doctor – ‘do no harm’ – laissez-faire in the sense that the sound needs little interference. It speaks for itself, loudly and energetically.

Jonas herself has said that she isn’t over enamoured with the country label. Is calling one of your albums ‘Country Songs’ then an error? Gathering a range of songs from previous albums displays Jonas’ breadth of writing and why country is a good home. Without doubt there is a heavy vein of country in the music and lyrical content. ‘Oklahoma Lottery’ is a Grapes of Wrath style chronicle of having to “Pack up your old jalopy because ‘You got some friends who say they’re workin’ out in California”. It is a fine song with another outstanding vocal performance. ‘Butter’ is the tale of (near) domestic heaven: “Mama cooks with butter/Course she does, sugar/ Soft and warm right on the counter/She looks like Grace Kelly/She tastes like Betty Crocker/Mama cooks with butter”. Ah yes, but she drinks straight whiskey.
So here we find the divining rod that leads to the heart of country, to the immutable music and message. On ‘Country Songs’ Jonas maps her journey “So thank you for teachin’ me to love country songs/ For makin’ me so sad I wanna sing along/When I hear that fiddle start, I can dance all over my broken heart/And I hardly care that you don’t love me like you used to do/No, I hardly care that you don’t love me like you used to do”.

In that context, the two covers Hank’s “Lovesick Blues” and Dylan’s “It Take A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry” make perfect sense. And, the re-recording of these songs makes perfect sense too. This is an excellent introduction to Jonas work. Hang on to your hats? For sure, but it is also hats off to a job very well done.

Ophelia Video Premiere on Ditty TV

Watch the new video on Ditty TV here!

World Premiere Video: “Ophelia” by Karen Jonas

With her new album, Lucky, Revisited, just released July 19, DittyTV is happy to present the World Premiere for the Karen Jonas video “Ophelia.”

Catch the DittyTV Debut of this video during The Curve on Wednesday, July 31, at 10 p.m. CDT.

About the song, Jonas says, “’Ophelia’ is a raucous number. It’s fast and fun, with lightning-speed guitars and cracking vocals. It’s also got witty Shakespeare-nerd approved jokes.”

The song initially was on Jonas’ 2016 Country Songs album. Lucky, Revisited features two covers plus songs from Jonas’ previous three albums, re-recorded in a more stripped down, acoustic setting than the originals. This version of “Ophelia” sounds a bit more like the version you’ll hear when seeing Jonas live.

“Guitarist Tim Bray and I have been playing 150+ shows a year together for six years now,” Jonas says. “Our sound has grown and matured since the original recordings of these songs, so I wanted to make a record that reflects that. We didn’t ‘reinvent’ any of these songs for Lucky, Revisited, we just captured them as they are today. I’m really happy with how it turned out. The dynamic, nuanced play between Tim’s guitar and my vocal reigns supreme throughout the album, just like in our live show.”

As for the video, Jonas says it was shot in a friend’s old barn. “We climbed up a rickety ladder to the second floor there, and in our quest to move some old tarp-covered church pews out of the way, we encountered hundreds of wasps,” she says. “We muscled through with the help of our very patient videographer, Ryan Poe, and a few cans of wasp spray, and managed to make this boot-stomping fun video anyway! You may be able to see a wasp fly by if you watch really carefully.”

Folk and Tumble Review

Julie Williams-Nash

One for the pure country fans, ‘Lucky, Revisited’ is the fourth studio album from Karen Jonas, comprised of songs released on previous albums but re-worked and re-discovered, plus two covers.

Jonas has spent the past five years touring with guitarist Tim Bray. Over that time they’ve got to know these songs so intimately, that they’ve evolved and got under their skin – so much so, they decided to re-record, by adding, changing, and developing their sound.

With their collaborative chemistry, laser-sharp dynamics and intricate arrangements, engineer and bassist EP Jackson just stood back, to capture their unfettered performances without interfering, letting the songs unfurl and take on a new life of their own.

Jonas was featured as a showcasing artist this year at SXSW, and was named Best Americana/Country Artist by the Washington Area Music Awards. She has a great voice. There’s a touch of Shania there certainly.

The previous albums have all charted in the US and European Americana charts. She’s shared stages with Dale Watson, Alabama, Joe Ely, Amanda Shires, and many other well-known artists.

In her own words, she said

These songs grow, morphing by millimetres at each of hundreds of shows, so they always feel new. Tm and I grew as artists and collaborators, so we decided to make these new recordings of songs heard on our previous records, as they are today after so much growing.

Hence, the title – ‘Lucky, Revisited’ – featuring covers of ‘Lovesick Blues’ (Cliff Friend and Irving Mills 1949) and Bob Dylan’s ‘It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry’.

‘Lucky, Revisited’ is released on 19th July 2019. For more info, visit www.karenjonasmusic.com

FATEA Review

Karen Jonas
Album: Lucky Revisited
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 11
Website: http://www.karenjonasmusic.com

"Hold on your hats, boys" advises Jonas before the first track kicks in, an indication of what to expect from this revisiting of nine songs culled from her three previous albums and reflecting their musical growth through constant touring alongside two covers.

Taking things chronologically, her 2014 debut, 'Oklahoma Lottery' yields four tracks, first up being the title track still taken at a slinky prowl but with more of a Southern country edge than the original bluesy version. 'River Song' here comes minus the definite article, and is taken at less of scuffling pace and shorn of its Dolly Parton flavours for more of a Cash chug and a twangy descending chords guitar break from Tim Bray. 'Money' still scampers along at pace as the semi-spoken lyrics tumble over themselves while the guitars do their breakdown thing behind her, the fourth being 'Lucky' itself, now with an even slinkier jazzy blues groove and some fine reverb from Bray.

Moving to 2016's 'Country Song's, there's three picks, the title track ditching the fiddle (even though it's still mentioned in the lyrics) to put the emphasis on electric guitar but otherwise still of a honky tonk jukebox persuasion. The slow swayed 'Wasting Time' has grown in the vocal delivery, the guitars slightly less hairy-chested, though I do miss the pedal steel, while the new collection opens with 'Ophelia', sounding even more like the 'Benny Hill Theme' meets 'The Ballad of Jed Clampett'.

Being the most recent, last year's 'Butter' accounts for just two, again including the title track, the horns kicked into touch but its tale of a whiskey drinking, hardworking mama still very much a bluesy, sexy swing slink that you might have imagined Eartha Kitt purring through. The other is a restyling of 'Gospel Of The Road', originally a full sounding organ backed soul burn but here stripped down to reflective acoustic ballad basics, very different but equally striking.

The two covers that make up the tracklisting span virtually two decades and come from icons of both, the first a suitably goodtime swagger through Hank Williams classic 'Lovesick Blues', the other an inspired, slow and soulfully wearied reading of Dylan's harmonica wailing blues 'It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry'.

Essentially a best of recast in their current live incarnations, but recorded in the studio, it serves as a reminder of the sassiness in her voice and the quality in the writing, presumably also drawing a line in the sand from which to progress into her next collection of all new material.

Mike Davies

The Boot Guest Room Sessions

GUEST ROOM SESSIONS: KAREN JONAS, ‘IT TAKES A LOT TO LAUGH, IT TAKES A TRAIN TO CRY’

AMY MCCARTHY

July 15, 2019


For July's installment of The Boot's Guest Room Sessions, singer-songwriter Karen Jonas decided to take on a Bob Dylan song. Press play above to watch her perform her take on "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry."

Fifty-four years ago this month, on July 29, 1965, Dylan recorded "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry," for his Highway 61 Revisited album. The influential record was released on Aug. 30, 1965.

"I love this song," Jonas tells The Boot. "It’s got all of the nostalgia and longing of a good country song, constructed in a blues number, with classic Bob Dylan phrasing and imagery. I love the juxtaposition of passion and weariness at play in the lyrics."

Jonas' special guest for her Guest Room Sessions performance of "It Takes a Train to Laugh ..." is her frequent collaborator, guitarist Tim Bray, with whom she's been playing for more than five years. The duo happened on the Ashland, Va., location at which they filmed their performance by chance after a show.

"We were driving home from a gig one evening and stopped by an old caboose outside of a museum," Jonas recalls. "We didn’t quite have permission to use the site, but no one seemed to mind as we strummed through the song."

Fans can hear Jonas's studio version of "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry" when Lucky, Revisited is released on July 19. The project -- the name of which was inspired by Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited -- contains newly recorded, acoustic takes on songs from her first three albums, as well as a couple of covers. Visit KarenJonasMusic.com for details.

Glide Magazine Album Premiere

ALBUM PREMIERE/INTERVIEW: KAREN JONAS TAKES A WIDE-RANGING APPROACH TO COUNTRY ON ‘LUCKY, REVISTED’

July 17, 2019 by Glide

Lucky, Revisited is the fourth studio album from Fredericksburg, VA artist Karen Jonas and it’s out this Friday, July 19th. Built from a collection of nine songs released on her first three albums and two stellar covers, Lucky, Revisited is an action-packed overview of Jonas’s finest songwriting. Five years of nonstop touring with guitarist Tim Bray brings an easy but road-hardened chemistry, laser-sharp dynamics, and intricate arrangements to the table. Bray’s dazzling contributions shine like never before, showcased prominently in every song. Engineer/bassist E.P Jackson stood back, capturing and supporting the unfettered performances of Jonas and Bray without interfering.

Jonas was a featured showcasing artist at SXSW in 2019 and was named “Best Americana/Country Artist” by the Washington Area Music Awards. Each of her three previous albums have garnered international acclaim and charted on both the US and UK Americana charts. She has shared stages with Dale Watson, Alabama, Joe Ely, Bob Schneider, The Lone Bellow, Brandy Clark, Robert Earl Keen, Josh Morningstar, and Amanda Shires—lighting up venues around the country from intimate house concerts and listening rooms to rowdy honky-tonks and outdoor festivals.

Today Glide is excited to offer an exclusive early listen of the album. Kicking off with the the quick-tempo, chicken-picked guitar tune, Jonas immediately gets you in the mood to dance along to her unique brand of country music. From there she takes on a tour of her own approach and love of country music, from the honky tonk take on Hank Williams’s “Lovesick Blues” and aptly titled “Country Songs” to the folkier, whispery “Oklahoma Lottery”, the defiant and old timey “Lucky”, the slinky and jazzy “Butter”, and heartfelt Americana of “Wasting Time”. Songs like “Money” are fast and playful, with plenty of guitar prowess on display before Jonas closes with an emotionally poignant ode to touring and lost love on “Gospel of the Road”. Across the album’s eleven tracks with find that Jonas is as diverse of a songwriter as she is a vocalist, capable of writing serious ballads while also writing rowdy songs about having a good time. 

Listen to the album and read our quick interview with Jonas below…

Was there an “aha” moment when you decided to do this album?

I was standing at the merch table after a show and someone asked to buy the album that sounded most like our live show. I realized that none of our previous albums sound quite like the live shows we’ve played over 150 times a year for the past 5+ years. That started to sit heavy on my brain. We had just released our third album, Butter, and we didn’t have a lot of money to spend, but I wrote Tim Bray, my creative partner and bandmate, this letter and said, “Tim I’m really sorry but we need to make another album real quick.” As he always does, he said, “Sure, what can I do to make it happen?” So now, just a year after Butter, we are releasing Lucky, Revisited.

Tell us about why you wanted to revisit songs from past albums. Why did you want to do this?

The studio is a very different creative environment from the stage. The studio feels introspective and serious, to me. The stage feels energetic and spontaneous. After these songs from our past albums spent so many hours on stage, I wanted to capture their growth. Because I love these songs, as they are today.

How did you choose the songs of yours you wanted to include? How did you choose the covers?

I wanted to include some of the songs that we play at nearly every show. The covers are show favorites, too. The Bob Dylan tune represents my folk/songwriter roots, and the “Lovesick Blues” is a bit of the classic country we’ve embraced at our shows.

Do you think this album is a good representation of your live sound? How so?

The album is a great representation of our live sound – we made it for exactly that reason! I hope y’all love it and come see us at a show soon.

What’s next for Karen Jonas?

We’ve got a busy summer planned, be sure to check the schedule for album release shows. And, we’ll get straight to work on an album of new music that I can’t wait for you to hear.

http://www.karenjonasmusic.com/

PhotoCredit-AmberReneePhotography.

WoNo Blog

donderdag 18 juli 2019

Lucky, Revisited. Karen Jonas

Karen Jonas revisits several of the tracks from her first three album and comes up with a stellar album, tighter than ever before. Lucky, Revisited is the result of years long touring with her guitarist Tim Bray and sometimes with an added rhythm section. What we hear on this new album is how her songs have developed on stage, without the (co-)producer near by. So all the niceties of her albums were laid by the wayside as they don't get to go along on tour. So no horns, strings, keyboards. Just an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar, bass and drums. And to top it all off, that voice I have come to love ever since I first heard it in 2011 with The Parlor Soldiers.

For me Karen Jonas foremost is that great, strong voice that carries every song. Even songs I do not really care for as they turn too country for my taste. Lucky for me she has mastered many different styles and moods. She surprised me with the swing on 'Butter', that came as a huge change in her sound and again added to her palette of musical colours.

Years ago I wrote that 'Oklahoma Lottery' deserved a statue. With the laidback version on this album I'd like to add that it deserves a spot in the central square of her hometown of Fredericksburg, Virginia. Everybody there and way beyond ought to hear this song and bring along the whole album as a trophy of musical prowess. Karen and her men are, again, in a great shape on Lucky, Revisited.

Tim Bray can show his fantastic guitar playing abundantly. He has taken chops from over sixty years of rock and roll and country guitar. James Burton, Cliff Gallup, Scotty Moore, you can find them all in his playing, and then some as the sound of today is in there as well.

Promo photo: Amber ReneeA sober version of Bob Dylan's 'It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry' is on the album, despite not being revisited. Well, in a way, as a cover version it is also of course. Karen Jonas' version gets a melancholy tone that makes it another sort of song, that modestly competes with the original. The same sort of happens with the already mentioned 'Butter'. A totally sober song, despite all the straight whisky drinking in there. It allows Tim Bray to shine once again, now with his acoustic guitar. "You're going to love her", Karen Jonas sings and my best guess is that it's very true.

With Lucky, Revisited Karen Jonas does not present us new songs. In a way that is too bad of course as I was hoping for new songs over the past months. What she does presents is almost as good as new songs, as the songs are truly revisited and presented anew. So what is left to say are two things: first, again Karen Jonas releases a great album and secondly, when will she finally cross the pond so that her fans here in Europe and especially The Netherlands get the chance to listen to her live?

Wo.

You can buy Lucky, Revisited here:

http://www.karenjonasmusic.com/


or listen to our Spotify Playlist to find out what we are writing about:

https://open.spotify.com/user/glazu53/playlist/6R9FgPd2btrMuMaIrYeCh6?si=KI6LzLaAS5K-wsez5oSO2g

Americana Highways Review

One of the challenges of being a musician is coming up with new content. Sometimes the best thing to do is to re-interpret previously recorded material. That is what Karen Jonas has done on her most recent album Lucky, Revisited. The idea behind this is to take songs that have lived on the road over the past five years and record them as they have evolved.

The album opens with a country feel with the honky-tonk hit “Ophelia”. The rhythm provided by E. P. Jackson (bass) and Seth Brown drums is uptempo and sure to get an audience moving. Meanwhile Jonas sings in a voice that is sweet and tough while the lyrics reference Romeo and Juliet. That is followed by Jonas’s version of the Hank Williams hit “Lovesick Blues”. This is a much different version than Hank’s and not just because it’s told from a woman’s point of view. Tim Bray injects some rock and roll into the song with his guitar part. It’s pretty fair to say that Hank never imagined the song this way, although he probably wouldn’t mind it.

As the album progresses, Jonas moves from country to the more jazzy sounds of “Lucky” and “Butter”. This version of “Butter” pretty much belongs to another time where jazz combos would dress to the nines while playing in smoky clubs.

This album also includes a cover of Bob Dylan’s “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry”. This particular version has the feel of a Tom Waits song. The guitar gives this version a real lonesome sound. Meanwhile the beat is so spare and muted that you really have to pay attention to notice it.

Fittingly, the album includes an ode to country songs. In what must be the story of a lot of people, she sings about how she didn’t appreciate country songs when she was younger. Then she goes on to sing that a certain someone will never understand her better than Buck Owens or Dwight Yoakam. You can almost see couples two-stepping as you listen to this one.

While the songs on this album aren’t new, they are presented in a way that makes them feel new. Jonas is clearly a talented songwriter with some stories to tell – whether she tells them in a jazzy style or an Americana style. Lucky, Revisited will be available everywhere on July 19. Order your copy here.