Jiggley Jones – Not our Typical day Out
Warren Zevon was
probably the most misunderstood songwriter of his time. Too grizzly and vulgar
for the Top 40 crowd, far too indulgent for the punks and too unkempt and
experimental for the folk scene, Zevon has spent a great deal of his career
revered by the intellectual music “weirdos” and dismissed by a lot of
mainstream critics during his prime and later audiences as a one hit wonder.
But Zevon’s dare to be different was ironically the most academically “folk”
thing about him, apart from his use of lyric-driven songs to create the macabre
moods he became so legendary for.
In his tradition (but
perhaps sans the devilishness), emerges Pennsylvania’s Jiggley Jones and his
debut LP Not Your Typical Day Out, which is available now for streaming online.
If you haven’t heard of Jiggley Jones, then you haven’t been following the
indie music scene on the east coast lately. JJ, as a lot of his fans call him
for short, has been building up quite the reputation with his live stage
presence in the last decade, on the heels of a pair of extended plays and a
couple of singles that exploded onto the indie charts in 2012 and 2014. Just in
the past five years he has been nominated for a litany of prizes at the Artist
Music Guild Heritage Awards, Independent Country Music Association Awards and
the International Music and Entertainment Awards, winning “Songwriter of the
Year” in 2013 following his debut EP No Spring Chicken. While all of his work
leading up to this brilliant culmination in his sound has been quite stimulating
and made for fun listens, personally I think that Jiggley Jones takes it to the
next level on Not Your Typical Day Out.
My favorite part of
Not Your Typical Day Out was probably its total lack of complacency, which is a
big hazard I feel like we as music fans run into on a lot of newer,
hipster-influenced singer/songwriter albums. JJ never comes off like a smug,
holier than though artist whose judgmental leer burns even coming through
headphones; instead, throughout every bright shining light and down in the dark
dirge on Not Your Typical Day Out feels like an intimate fireside performance
shared by a vintage troubadour sitting right by your side. The strain in his
voice tells you that he’s got a lot of miles under his belt, and the longing of
his guitar speaks to that universal thirst for life that exists in all of us
regardless of age, race or gender. This vastly powerful appeal makes Jones’
rookie LP incredibly reachable to new fans while also satisfying and exciting
longtime supporters with this new sampler of Jones’ future direction. Whether
you’re new to his sound or have been following him since day one, Not Your
Typical Day Out is a mandatory buy for diehard Americana and singer/songwriter
enthusiasts, who haven’t had an ambitious record to get excited about in a long
time. Check out Jones’ upcoming tour schedule and additional multimedia content
at his official website and Facebook page.
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/JiggleyJones
Jennifer Hertzler
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