JEFF BLACK
''TIN LILY''
JULY 5 2005
47:10
1. Easy On Me /3:00
2. Hollow Of Your Hand /3:22
3. Nineteen /5:03
4. Libertine /2:54
5. Free At Last /4:47
6. Hard Way Out /4:19
7. Closer /3:15
8. All Days Shine /4:11
9. Heaven Now /4:13
10. These Days /3:22
11. How Long /4:23
12. A Better Way /4:21
All Tracks By Black
Jeff Black/acoustic guitar, electric guitar, harmonica, piano, keyboards
Kate Campbell/backing vocals
Matthew Ryan/backing vocals
Kenny Vaughn/electric guitar
David Jacques/double bass, upright bass
Dave Roe/bass guitar
Sam Bush/mandolin, fiddle
Craig Wright/drums, percussion
REVIEW
by Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr.
Jeff Black has won a solid rep for writing impressionistic songs that are smart without forgetting the emotional undercurrent, and Tin Lily should deepen that feeling. The slow-rolling "Easy On Me" works like an updated, less sexist version of Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe."Black's narrator doesn't want commitment any more than Dylan's, he just has a nicer way of putting it. "Hollow of Your Hand" is more prosaic, evoking the open road and the American landscape without getting too specific. Is he living in the shadow of a lover's hand? Or perhaps someone -- a singer or a writer -- who's come before him? In the end, the identity matters less than the impression of "farmlands of southern Illinois" opening up to reveal all of their natural glory. Black wraps his vocals around the lyrics of these and other songs, bringing a warm resonance that shows he's lived with them. The subtle arrangements of piano, guitar, and organ create a layered underpinning that adds another dimension to a song like "Nineteen" without overpowering it, while the rocking guitar brings a carefree abandon to "Libertine." These shifts in tone also give Tin Lily more variety than 2003's B-Sides and Confessions, Vol. 1, and ultimately make it a more satisfying recording. Black, it seems, has found his comfort zone.
BIOGRAPHY
by Charlotte Dillon
Missouri native Jeff Black knew he wanted a career in music even before he hit his teens. When he was only ten years old, he persuaded his parents to buy him a guitar. In between school, and then later work, Black learned to play that guitar, to write songs, and to sing. Before he started his professional career in the music business, he worked at a gas station, a car wash, a warehouse, and even in a club as a bouncer. In his early twenties, Black began performing at Blayney's, the blues club where he worked as a bouncer. His fan base slowly expanded, and he left the club and toured across the United States, stepping in as an opening act for artists like Jerry Jeff Walker, John Prine, and Maria McKee.
By 1996, Black's career was taking wings of its own. He appeared on recordings with Blackhawk, Sam Bush, and Iris Dement. In 1998, he joined up with drummer Ken Coomer, guitarist and keyboardist Jay Bennett, and bassist John Stirratt to record the album Birmingham Road, released on the Arista Records label. "Long Way to Go," "Ghosts in the Graveyard," "Valley," and "That's Just About Right" are some of the tracks on this first album. Black returned in early 2003 with B-Sides and Confessions, Vol. 1. Featuring solo acoustic and sparse trio performances, it was a less rollicking record than Birmingham Road, but paid even closer attention to Black's sweet wine-and-rawhide vocals. Originally available exclusively through Black's website, B-Sides and Confessions was issued officially by Nashville indie Dualtone on March 18, 2003. In 2005 Black released Tin Lily, a warm, diverse and altogether more cohesive album of all new material, again on the Dualtone label.
DoWnLoAd
''TIN LILY''
JULY 5 2005
47:10
1. Easy On Me /3:00
2. Hollow Of Your Hand /3:22
3. Nineteen /5:03
4. Libertine /2:54
5. Free At Last /4:47
6. Hard Way Out /4:19
7. Closer /3:15
8. All Days Shine /4:11
9. Heaven Now /4:13
10. These Days /3:22
11. How Long /4:23
12. A Better Way /4:21
All Tracks By Black
Jeff Black/acoustic guitar, electric guitar, harmonica, piano, keyboards
Kate Campbell/backing vocals
Matthew Ryan/backing vocals
Kenny Vaughn/electric guitar
David Jacques/double bass, upright bass
Dave Roe/bass guitar
Sam Bush/mandolin, fiddle
Craig Wright/drums, percussion
REVIEW
by Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr.
Jeff Black has won a solid rep for writing impressionistic songs that are smart without forgetting the emotional undercurrent, and Tin Lily should deepen that feeling. The slow-rolling "Easy On Me" works like an updated, less sexist version of Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe."Black's narrator doesn't want commitment any more than Dylan's, he just has a nicer way of putting it. "Hollow of Your Hand" is more prosaic, evoking the open road and the American landscape without getting too specific. Is he living in the shadow of a lover's hand? Or perhaps someone -- a singer or a writer -- who's come before him? In the end, the identity matters less than the impression of "farmlands of southern Illinois" opening up to reveal all of their natural glory. Black wraps his vocals around the lyrics of these and other songs, bringing a warm resonance that shows he's lived with them. The subtle arrangements of piano, guitar, and organ create a layered underpinning that adds another dimension to a song like "Nineteen" without overpowering it, while the rocking guitar brings a carefree abandon to "Libertine." These shifts in tone also give Tin Lily more variety than 2003's B-Sides and Confessions, Vol. 1, and ultimately make it a more satisfying recording. Black, it seems, has found his comfort zone.
BIOGRAPHY
by Charlotte Dillon
Missouri native Jeff Black knew he wanted a career in music even before he hit his teens. When he was only ten years old, he persuaded his parents to buy him a guitar. In between school, and then later work, Black learned to play that guitar, to write songs, and to sing. Before he started his professional career in the music business, he worked at a gas station, a car wash, a warehouse, and even in a club as a bouncer. In his early twenties, Black began performing at Blayney's, the blues club where he worked as a bouncer. His fan base slowly expanded, and he left the club and toured across the United States, stepping in as an opening act for artists like Jerry Jeff Walker, John Prine, and Maria McKee.
By 1996, Black's career was taking wings of its own. He appeared on recordings with Blackhawk, Sam Bush, and Iris Dement. In 1998, he joined up with drummer Ken Coomer, guitarist and keyboardist Jay Bennett, and bassist John Stirratt to record the album Birmingham Road, released on the Arista Records label. "Long Way to Go," "Ghosts in the Graveyard," "Valley," and "That's Just About Right" are some of the tracks on this first album. Black returned in early 2003 with B-Sides and Confessions, Vol. 1. Featuring solo acoustic and sparse trio performances, it was a less rollicking record than Birmingham Road, but paid even closer attention to Black's sweet wine-and-rawhide vocals. Originally available exclusively through Black's website, B-Sides and Confessions was issued officially by Nashville indie Dualtone on March 18, 2003. In 2005 Black released Tin Lily, a warm, diverse and altogether more cohesive album of all new material, again on the Dualtone label.
DoWnLoAd
