Country Soul Brother

Description

Country Soul Brother

by Jesse Dayton

Hang on! After the title track storms out of the chute like a bucking bronco, Jesse Dayton takes listeners on a wild ride across roadhouse country. He swaggers his way through “Tall Walkin’ Texas Trash” as if channeling the cocksure spirit of Waylon Jennings (with whom Dayton recorded as a guitarist) and conjures the border cantina atmospherics of Doug Sahm on the accordion-laced “All Because of You” and “Moravia.”

One doesn’t necessarily think of country and soul as two complementary styles, but anyone with a long memory will know that country – at its outset – worked hand in hand with the blues. So Jesse Dayton’s idea of combining Southern fiddles and B-3 organ on a dozen songs isn’t all that radical after all. He kicks off the album with the title track, a rollicking fun song about life on the road.

The arrangements, while delivering something one might call “country-soul,” vary enough from song to song to keep the album from becoming predictable. There’s accordion on “All Because of You,” acoustic fingerpicking on “Jesus Pick Me Up,” and harmonica on “Ain’t Grace Amazing.” Dayton also shows how easy it is to turn a rock song like the Cars‘ “Just What I Needed” into a bluesy bit of country. With the exception of “Just What I Needed,” Dayton has written all of the material, and to top everything else off, he’s a solid, versatile singer. For anyone interested in a soulful country album that never seems alternative, but likewise wouldn’t be confused with contemporary Nashville, Country Soul Brother will fit the bill.

Source – Review by Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr for All Music

Last year in a review I drew a comparison between Jesse Dayton and Brad Paisley. Both are handsome young men who kick butt on guitar and have great singing voices, but for some reason, one is mainstream and the other, perhaps the better, is not. I still can’t figure it. Jesse Dayton is easily one of the most talented singers in Texas country, laying down hardcore roots music with a sharp, edgy quality that ought to be in the mainstream, ought to be on the radio, and ought to be heard.

Source – Review by Kathy Coleman for CountryMusicAbout.com