JD McPherson - Socks

Year: 2018
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 30:02
Size: 69,6 MB
Styles: R&B
Scans: Front, back

1. All The Gifts I Need (2:44)
2. Bad Kid (3:14)
3. Hey Skinny Santa (2:54)
4. Socks (3:33)
5. Every Single Christmas (2:27)
6. Ugly Sweater Blues (2:56)
7. Holly, Carol, Candy & Joy (3:24)
8. Santa's Got A Mean Machine (2:34)
9. What's That Sound? (2:33)
10. Claus vs. Claus (3:39)

One of the more ingeniously titled holiday albums you'll run across, JD McPherson's Socks is a jubilantly rockin' production, rife with humor and the Oklahoma-born singer's knack for old-school '50s R&B. For McPherson fans, and anyone familiar with his 2010 flagship single "North Side Gal," Socks will be a pleasant yuletide surprise. While the album certainly evokes the tinsel and Tin Pan Alley vibe of Christmas' pop music past, there isn't a standard to be found here. Instead, McPherson has conceived an all-original album put together with as much care and attention as he applies to his main, non-holiday-related releases.

Joining him is his longtime backing ensemble featuring bassist Jimmy Sutton, keyboardist Raynier Jacob Jacildo, drummer Jason Smay, and saxophonist/guitarist Doug Corcoran. Together, they dive headlong into a set of foot-tapping anthems like "All the Gifts I Need" and the McPherson/Nicole Atkins co-write "Every Single Christmas," that wouldn't sound out of place blasting out of a 1949 Mercury, or a turntable next to a flamingo pink Christmas tree.

With his highly resonant voice and talent for writing snappy, hook-filled songs, McPherson is always the focal point of his albums, but he wouldn't be such a fully realized performer on record if not for his band. So it's nice to see that he has written many of these songs with his bandmates, including pairing with Corcoran on the Louis Jordan jumper "Hey Skinny Santa," teaming with Smay on the Sun Studios-perfect "Santa's Got a Mean Machine," and collaborating with Jacildo on the cheeky "Holly, Carol, Candy & Joy."

Elsewhere, he strikes a tone of cheerful novelty, snuggling into the Elvis-in-Hawaii-sounding "Ugly Sweater Blues" and duetting with Lucie Silvas on the saucy, stroll-ready "Claus vs. Claus." Socks is a durable holiday gift, but one that's immensely more fun and enjoyable than its wry title implies. /Matt Collar, Rovi

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JD McPherson - The Warm Covers EP

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 11:46
Size: 27.0 MB
Styles: Retro rock, Electric blues
Year: 2014
Art: Front

[2:41] 1. I Wish You Would
[3:05] 2. Steal Away
[2:58] 3. Rome Wasn't Built In A Day
[3:00] 4. Why Lady Why

Singer/songwriter JD McPherson makes vintage-sounding rock with nods to '40s R&B, blues, and '50s rock & roll. A native of Oklahoma, he grew up listening to a wide array of music from traditional country and rockabilly to punk and hip-hop. Although music was always an interest, McPherson first worked on his family's cattle ranch and later earned a Master's degree in open media from Tulsa University, eventually teaching and receiving attention for his video art installations. It was while performing with the Tulsa-based roots ensemble the Starkweather Boys that his classic style caught the ear of Chicago retro-rock impresario Jimmy Sutton. He backed Sutton for a few shows and formulated an idea for his own solo project.

In 2010, he released his solo debut, the Sutton-produced Signs & Signifiers (featuring the single "North Side Gal"), on Hi-Style Records. The video for the "North Side Gal" went viral and, along with a heavy touring schedule, helped build McPherson's fan base. Two years later, Signs & Signifiers was re-released to a wider audience on Rounder Records and ultimately reached number 47 on the Billboard Rock Albums chart. That same year, McPherson was invited to join acclaimed British singer/songwriter Nick Lowe on a leg of his West Coast tour. McPherson then whet fan appetites with a 2014 covers EP before returning in 2015 with his sophomore full-length album. ~Matt Collar

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JD McPherson - Undivided Heart & Soul

Year: 2017
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 40:22
Size: 93,5 MB
Styles: Rock/Americana/Soul/R&B-mix
Scans: Full

1. Desperate Love (2:56)
2. Crying's Just A Thing You Do (3:14)
3. Lucky Penny (3:34)
4. Hunting For Sugar (4:15)
5. On The Lips (3:40)
6. Undivided Heart & Soul (3:18)
7. Bloodhound Rock (4:21)
8. Style (Is A Losing Game) (3:47)
9. Jubilee (4:40)
10. Under The Spell Of City Lights (3:26)
11. Let's Get Out Of Here While We're Young (3:07)

Over the past seven years, two albums and countless tours, JD McPherson has gained a reputation for updating the American rockabilly sound. With his fat, fuzzed-out riffs (usually played on a custom TK Smith guitar or other funky bodied, automobile inspired axe) and accompaniments from upright bassist Jimmy Sutton, keyboardist Ray Jacildo, drummer Jason Smay and a touring brass section, McPherson’s last two records sounded old-school barn dance updated for modern ears, transmitted through earbuds instead of among hay bales.

Yet, on his third album Undivided Heart & Soul, McPherson takes a slightly different approach, leaning harder on the first syllable of rockabilly. New beginnings and friendships also likely contributed to the sonic streamlining. Undivided Heart & Soul is his first New West Records and the list of collaborators is both long and impressive. During the writing process, McPherson worked with Queen of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme and Dean Fertita to transition from writing more fictional narratives to personal experiences for the first time. And during the recording process, other notable guests included Butch Walker on the mid-tempo “Crying’s Just a Thing that You Do” and even sharing lyric-writing credits with his wife Mandy on the escapist closer “Let’s Get Out of Here While We’re Young.” Plus, Lucius’ Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig contributed vocal harmonies and drummer Dan Molad co-produced the entire record.

History still carries the most weight on the 11-track album. McPherson and his family moved from their home state of Oklahoma to East Nashville in between 2015’s Let The Good Times Roll and the new record, and he and the band recorded in Nashville’s historic RCA Studio B, whose walls could tell stories of legends like Dolly Parton and Elvis. And the retro-sounding tracks, most of which feature prominent walking bass lines courtesy of silver fox Sutton, are among the album’s highlights. Single “Lucky Penny” (that doesn’t hide its Dan Auerbach influence), jittery “Bloodhound Rock” and “Under the Spell of the City Lights” (featuring another notable co-writer, Aaron Lee Tasjan) all harken back to those retro rocking songs in both McPherson’s own catalogue and that of American music as a whole. So while Undivided Heart & Soul explores both the past and the future of roots music, McPherson shines brightest when he blends both influences to stay rooted in the present. /Hillary Saunders, Paste Magazine

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JD McPherson - Let the Good Times Roll

File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2015
Styles: R&B, Roots, Blues
Time: 36:17
Size: 83,9 MB
Covers: Full

(3:04) 1. Let the Good Times Roll
(3:18) 2. Bossy
(3:03) 3. It's All Over But the Shouting
(3:56) 4. Bridgebuilder
(2:25) 5. It Shook Me Up
(3:17) 6. Head Over Heels
(2:54) 7. Shy Boy
(3:35) 8. You Must Have Met Little Caroline?
(4:53) 9. Precious
(3:36) 10. Mother Of Lies
(2:11) 11. Everybody's Talking 'Bout The All-American

Trumpeted by the flagship single "North Side Gal," JD McPherson burst onto the roots music scene in 2010 with his debut album, Signs & Signifiers. Blessed with an angelically resonant voice and a vintage analog production sound (the latter courtesy of bassist/collaborator/studio guru Jimmy Sutton), McPherson had boiled his take on rock & roll down to the essentials. Using those timeless elements, combined with his literate, art school-informed songwriting aesthetic (he carries an M.F.A. from the University of Tulsa), McPherson at once codified and recontextualized a purist mid-century ethos that had been brewing among rockabilly, old-school R&B, and car-culture fanatics since at least the 1980s. All of which brings us to his sophomore full-length album, 2015's Let the Good Times Roll. Produced by Mark Neill (who previously helmed similarly inclined albums from the Paladins, Los Straitjackets, and the Black Keys), Let the Good Times Roll is a purposeful companion piece to Signs & Signifiers, showcasing a bigger, more dynamic sound than its predecessor, full of atmospheric plate reverb, juke-joint rhythms, spine-tingling piano lines, verdant horn sections, and even more densely packed guitar twang and strut. And, as always, at the center is McPherson's voice, a wailing croon that sounds as contemporary as Bruno Mars, even as it raises the romantic specter of Jackie Wilson. It's this ability to reference the past (even his own recent past) while remaining firmly lodged in the present that colors everything McPherson does. Even the Dan Auerbach co-write "Bridgebuilder" sounds improbably like an '80s blue-eyed soul song by Britain's Squeeze if recorded in Memphis in 1958. The juxtaposition is explicit in the album's title track, as easily a reference to Louis Jordan's 1946 classic as to the Cars' 1978 single. The song even finds McPherson repurposing the roiling, triplet snare-drum intro of "North Side Gal," in what amounts to a postmodern nod to pop culture sequelization and a direct response to the overwhelming success of Signs & Signifiers. He's basically saying "Y'all remember this? Well, let's keep this party going!" Despite that sentiment, however, the album doesn't rely solely on uptempo rippers à la "North Side Gal." The heart of Let the Good Times Roll lies more in the slinky, midtempo, hip-grinding quality of cuts like "It's All Over But the Shouting," "Head Over Heels," and "Shy Boy." And it's not just McPherson's vocals or arranging skills that raise the bar, as he turns traditional rock lyrics into poetry on "It Shook Me Up," opining in his best Little Richard snarl, "Didn't do nothing but hem and haw/Didn't stick a piece of paper in the Wailing Wall/And I didn't find a stranger worth talking to/And I didn't get some time with you." Let the Good Times Roll is definitely the second coming of the rock & roll savior that fans prayed would follow Signs & Signifiers. And as the title implies, it's also one hell of a good time.

Let the Good Times Roll

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J.D. McPherson - Signs And Signifiers

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 34:14
Size: 78.4 MB
Styles: Retro rock, Electric blues
Year: 2011
Art: Front

[2:29] 1. North Side Gal
[2:43] 2. Country Boy
[2:15] 3. Fire Bug
[4:43] 4. Signs & Signifiers
[2:55] 5. Wolf Teeth
[2:07] 6. Scratching Circles
[3:23] 7. A Gentle Awakening
[2:40] 8. Dimes For Nickles
[2:56] 9. B.G.M.O.S.R.N.R
[2:34] 10. I Can't Complain
[2:58] 11. Your Love (All That I'm Missing)
[2:26] 12. Scandalous

Singer/songwriter JD McPherson's 2010 debut album, Signs & Signifiers, is a rockin', bluesy, forward-thinking album that subtly breaks the conventions of most vintage rock projects. Produced and recorded with the retro expertise of bassist/guitarist Jimmy Sutton, the album is a gold mine of '50s-inspired rock and R&B, with some rockabilly twang thrown in for maximum effect. That said, McPherson actually draws from a wide and eclectic array of influences including Son House, Charlie Feathers, the Wu-Tang Clan, and sundry blues and soul artists from Guitar Slim to Sam Cooke. The through-line that ties all of these influences together is McPherson's powerful and robust voice, which balances the shouter style of mid-century legends like Lloyd Price with a smoother, more controlled approach that falls somewhere between Gene Vincent and Clyde McPhatter. McPherson is a singer/songwriter in the truest sense, and his original tunes are a cut above the average retro-rockabilly artist both melodically and lyrically. Such songs as the driving, Twist-ready leadoff single, "North Side Gal," and the explosive album closer, "Scandalous," bring to mind jukebox-fueled impromptu dance parties. Which isn't to say McPherson is merely interested in old-school sounds. On the contrary, tunes like the bluesy, spiritual-inspired title track (which borrows the Smiths' oscillating guitar intro from "How Soon Is Now") and the soul-blues dirge "A Gentle Awakening" with its symphonic strings and piano background bring to mind classic '60s cuts by Ray Charles, as well as contemporary numbers by Alicia Keys. The album does benefit greatly from the vintage, live-recording aesthetic that Sutton and engineer Alex Hall have perfected over the years with other similarly inclined bands like the Four Charms and the Del Moroccos. It also doesn't hurt that McPherson is backed here by a bevy of roots musicians including drummer Hall, saxophonist Jonathan Doyle, guitarist Joel Paterson, and others. Ultimately, as the album's conceptual title implies, Signs & Signifiers paints a picture of McPherson as a kind of post-structuralist retro-rocker, living in the moment with one boot in the past and the other boot in the future. ~Matt Collar

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