JESSE DAYTON
The Hard Way Blues
Hardcharger Records
Jesse Dayton really should be a bigger star by now. The Beaumont, Texas-born and raised country/roots rocker (and author and radio interviewer) has long been something of a cult hero among Americana and Outlaw Country fans and music industry insiders. He’s known for session work with his country heroes Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, and Glen Campbell. He’s also collaborated with rockers such as Duff Kagan, Glen Danzig, X, Rob Zombie, and the Supersuckers.
So he’s used to spanning genres like country and rock and even punk or New Wave. I once saw him whip out a country-rockin’ cover of The Cars’ “Just What I Needed” at the fabled Broken Spoke honkytonk in Austin. While ’80s kids like me were delighted, even the oldest two-steppers on the dance floor were still quite pleased to keep whirling away.
The very eclecticism that has informed his roots rock with honkytonk swagger and Elvis good-guy likeability, revered by rocker and redneck crowds alike, has also likely held him back in an industry that demands stricter, more simplified labels. Now with his twelfth? album, he throws some hard-driving Texas blues rock into the mix. Produced by Waylon’s son Shooter Jennings, who also pulls duty on keyboards and informs the album’s heavier rock/blues sound while still staying true to its country roots. It’s a fitting progression of sorts, and will especially appeal to fans who share his affinity for different genres.
Besides hard-driving blues rock like the title track and “Navasota,” “Night Brain” starts off as a sparse, acoustic country lament about insomnia, then escalates to a heavy blues boogie groove. “Baby’s Long Gone” likewise starts out with tinkly fingerpicking before hitting the pedal. “Angel in My Pocket” and “Huntsville Prison Rodeo” are more traditionally country and tender, often harking back to scenes from his East Texas childhood.
He also expands that narrative voice to pay tribute to West Texas “artlaw” Boyd Elder (cool story!) in “Ballad of Boyd Elder,” and trace the tale of an escaped slave and healer from Haiti in “Esther Pearl.”
All in all, it’s one of his strongest and most solid albums to date. Jesse Dayton continues to explore and improve at an age when a lot of other musicians are slowing down or atrophying.
Be sure to also check out his autobiography Beaumonster, his Gimme Country radio interview show, and his Facebook Hardcharger page, peppered with witty and thought-provoking entries, which he often signs off with “onward, JD.” Onward, indeed! –L. J. Gouveia