Liverpool songwriter John Jenkins has been creating consistently fine music. There is no doubting the talent on display and his musical sensibilities are finely honed over years of immersing himself in the traditions of song craft and creativity.
John Jenkins Tuebroook Self Release
This is the eight album from Liverpool songwriter John Jenkins who has been creating consistently fine music since his debut record appeared back in 2013. He also co-hosts a local radio show that plays Americana, Country and Folk music at The Garden Party. There is no doubting the talent on display and his musical sensibilities are finely honed over years of immersing himself in the traditions of song craft and creativity.
There is a real intimacy at play here and his warm vocal tone is perfectly aligned with the sense of times past, regrets registered and hope for the future in these songs that capture the vagaries of daily living. Tuebrook is in the North-East of Liverpool and the district has seen much change over the generations. This is a love letter to the past and the memories of youth are perfectly captured on Christopher Roberts a song to an old school friend that fell out of contact over the years. The story song 43 and Counting is both poignant and sad in capturing feelings of being left alone by a lover who has moved on to a new life. ‘And I feel so old, Silence has spread through this house and my soul.’
The gentle sway of A Child’s Sense Of Wonder is similar in tone to the Stranglers song, Golden Brown as it plays out a tale of innocence and holding back the impending weight of adulthood and lost dreams. William is a song that honours a childhood friend and his sad demise from addiction as an adult. It is a beautifully written and sensitively delivered snapshot of a past that cannot be cocooned from the colder reality of growing up and facing our differing challenges and demons.
The musicians include John Jenkins (vocals, piano), Jon Lawton (programming, bass, guitars, lap steel, percussion, keyboards), Pippa Murdie (backing vocals, guitar), Chris Howard (keyboards) and an assortment of original tape recordings from childhood that include family members and friends. The final song Mr Ford’s Hardware Store includes a recording of the infants choir at “Our Lady, Star of the Sea” School in Seaforth, Merseyside and it recalls the local corner store that had everything stacked perilously high in its inventory.
As a project, this is certainly up there alongside anything else that Jenkins has produced, even if the temptation to create a full concept album was passed over as some of the songs are not rooted in his local neighbourhood memories. Both Idaho and Passing Time are further examples of story songs that echo a similar writing style that finds a place on previous albums. She Feels Nothing examines that sense of having to go into self-protection mode in a relationship that could not deliver on dreams of wanting more.
Maybe I Just Came Along For the Ride has a sad realisation that commitment to anything comes at a price that not everyone is able to pay ‘ I was always by your side, even when you weren’t there, Maybe I just came along for the ride, Expecting you to care.’ The opening song Shadows reflects on change with the lines ‘how can I be part of something that ends in despair.’ However, much of the album is anything but downbeat, more a nostalgic visit to a past that strengthens the resolve to keep moving forward in search of new experiences and building upon the durability forged in the past.
Review by Paul McGee