Reviews
|
A review of "Pumpkin" written for the Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange
By Tampa Blue Singer-songwriters have a tough row to hoe. Many are lost in the crowd of folks who have not mastered their musical instruments, their word-smithing or learned from those who have gone before them. Jack Erdie stands apart from that crowd. While most of the lyrics seem to be of an autobiographical nature, he is able to avoid the pitfall of self indulgence. His song-writing is able to transcend the merely personal and stand apart in a place of common experience that will make his songs relevant and meaningful to most listeners. The musicianship on Jack's CD, Pumpkin, ranges from solid to excellent. He provides the great playing on multiple instruments and is wonderfully accompanied by several folks to create a nice full sound that frames his vocal story lines perfectly. And there are even some cuts that demonstrate his sensitivity and accomplishment as an instrumentalist. The musical styles he works with show that Jack has certainly spent the required time appreciating, understanding and mastering the more traditional music that many singer-songwriters seem to avoid completely. Jack's offerings cover a wide-range of topics and styles. Lyrically, his songs cover personal tragedy and loss, love songs and political commentary. Vocally, Jack is able to use multiple voicings to help deliver his messages. At times you should hear the influences of both Dylan and Ochs while at other times Jack is gifting us with his own inner voices. Pumpkin is a strong collection of enjoyable songs with great musicianship and clean production work. The CD is well worth hearing and should encourage you to see him live if you ever have the opportunity! |
|
Review of WYEP 3rd Thursdays Show
by Aaron Jentzen, Pittsburgh City Paper Erdie's jovial stage banter and strong voice earned him a warm response, while the bluntness of his material took a little getting used to -- almost like you'd asked a friend some simple questions, and the responses happened to rhyme." |
|
Jack Erdie by Robert Wagner (written for Pittsburgh Calliope Folk Music Alliance) When Jack Erdie first showed up in the basement of the Carnegie Library in Lawrenceville for a gathering of the Calliope Songwriters Circle some eight years ago, he seemed to have come out of nowhere. How could I be living in the same city as someone this good without having ever heard or met him? His songs commanded attention, his vocal-range wide and powerful, his rhythms compelling, and his imagery and command of language as sophisticated as anything I'd ever heard. He played a few shows in bars and coffeehouses, recorded a few songs, and then. POOF! He was gone, apparently off to Hollywood. Then a couple of years ago, I walked into The Bloomfield Bridge Tavern and James Hovan, host of the Calliope Acoustic Open-Stage, was raving that I'd just missed the debut of "one of the best political songs I've ever heard." By who? Where? Here? Then Jack Erdie came around the corner. THAT guy. THERE. Do you know Jack Erdie? Sure, I know Jack Erdie. Hey, Jack. Remember long-playing record albums? 33 1/3 rpm? Did you ever have a copy of Bob Dylan's "Bringing It All Back Home?" Flip it over to Side Two. You've got Mr. Tambourine Man, Gates of Eden, It's Alright Ma I'm Only Bleeding, It's All Over Now Baby Blue. an entire side of panoramic, kaleidoscopic, compassionate, poetic and riveting portraits of life in America. Remember the first time you heard it? Life-changing stuff. Well, that's how I feel when I hear the songs Jack Erdie. Musically, his songs cover the map from traditional blues-forms to the kind of melodicism you find in pop music from groups like XTC, The Beatles or Petula Clark. (Pick up a copy of Jack's disc "When the Hurricane Hit," recorded and produced in the late nineties by Mark Perna, if you want to hear the full glory of Jack Erdie as a pop musician.) Jack's lyrics are peppered with the kind of realistically joyous and violent images one could only find in the real lives of real people. Jack describes his boyhood in Fairmont, WV as "a pleasant, sleepy mix of Christian love and racism, patriotism as Americans and self-denigration as West Virginians, fanatical family loyalty and violence -- both to animals and fellow men. My life would make a good mini-series, if I could ever make enough sense of the whole mess to communicate it.” |
|
Jack Erdie revisits his Pentecostal past on
'Pumpkin'
By John Hayes, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Hands are clapping inside a rural West Virginia church house. The Pentecostal brethren bear witness as the pastor lays on the fire and brimstone, admonishing them to stand up, rise up, leap up and be saved. But one member of the flock is still sitting. The young boy cranes his head back and covers his face, blood spontaneously hemorrhaging from his nose. It's not the first time the pastor's fiery sermon has drawn his blood. Scowling, a lay sister leads him dripping to the basement, throws a damp cloth over his face, lays hands on his head and prays. He's a "demon seed," she tells him, "oppressed by the devil." Twenty years later, still sore from childhood memories of blood, guilt and humiliation, Jack Erdie stands at a different kind of pulpit bearing musical witness to his past sins for a congregation of folk fans. His secular story songs ebb and flow with the cadence of a Bible-thumping sermon; his political, social or intensely personal messages bristle with a passion that doesn't quite draw blood. Erdie revisits his Pentecostal past and a host of vices on his contemplative second independent album, "Pumpkin." For most of the past decade, Erdie has kept busy on the fringes of Pittsburgh's entertainment scene. Co-founder of the New Teeth Productions theater troupe, he collaborated on shows that drew critical praise. Remnants of his theater background surface in his powerful voice, nuanced delivery and compelling stage sense. Remnants of his rural childhood surface in his songs. "I believed when I was younger that I was called to be a minister," says Erdie. "Now, while I no longer believe in certain tenets of the Gospel, I still believe I'm meant to be a conduit and I'm still working at the vulgar end of it. ... There's a catharsis in music and I'm trying to touch it; I'm trying to get there but I'm not there yet." Most of Erdie's songs are rooted in real-life experiences and woven into a lattice of traditionally based musical structures. "Can't Get There From Here," which has seen some airplay at WYEP, swings to the country side. "I'm Sorry Jesus" mixes memories of his childhood blood-spurting with some soul-searching and comic relief. "Pumpkin With a Face" is a tragic rural novella, and "Let Their Heads Roll" pontificates with a partly political, partly anti-authoritarian edge. Erdie's fondness for American roots music is rooted in the traditions he found in a Sons of the Pioneers album that he rented from a West Virginia public library. Ordinarily a solo artist, he invited the musicians who helped him record "Pumpkin" to join him at the release: Art Gazdik, Stacy Mates, Andrea Scheve, Doug Wilkin, who produced the album, and Mark Perna, underwriter of both of Erdie's CDs. |
|
"Way
awesome! Fabulous lyrics! I love that song..." "DAMN
"[Battered
Umbrella is...] one of the greatest songs of truth I have heard."
"His
music is like a transmission on the midnight radio
over cultural barriers and national borders. " "[Pumpkin is...] a great album. Great songs, real lyrical depth. One of my new favorites."
"[Pumpkin is...] a really honest album. Between literate lyrics that dance across the line and back again, his agile voice that dips down into Oak Ridge Boy territory and easily bounces back to perch on the rafters, there are plenty of melodies I keep humming long after the CD is over."
|
www.jackerdie.com