Jul
26
2009
Jul
2
2009
Daylight, 4 stars and a Mojo playlisting!!
Just to say a massive thanks to the folks at Q (Andy Fyfe) and the Mojo team for giving my album a 4 star Q review and listing “Hey” from “Daylight & Stars” in the top 10 Mojo playlist!! Its been a great year for me musically so far and this tops it all off!! (and we’re only half way through…read the reviews at www.jimjones.co.uk.
Jun
13
2009
Daylight & the Stars and stripes – Americana UK Review
Uk based Americana UK have given my album a fantastic review to add to Q-magazines and Mojo’s kind words.
Click on image to view.
Thankyou.
Jim
May
4
2009
Peter Bruntnell, The Whybirds and Jim Jones – Ent Shed , Bedford – 14th March 2009
| Review by Keith HargreavesÂ
£10. It doesn’t sound much and especially these days with the talk of billions lost and millions swindled it sounds like even less, but for just £10 a man could walk into a packed auditorium and catch three great live sets courtesy of those wonderful folks at East-West promotions. Surely they should be a charity? A packed hall with standing room only ( and that was tight) saw Jim Jones take to the stage and silence any chit chat with his emotive confessionals and keening ballads. A troubadour in the real sense – just guitar, lyrics and voice. And what a voice, with more than hint of Bruce by way of Taunton rather than New Jersey. The songs came mainly from his new album ‘Daylight and Stars’ and each one was clearly defined did not pale into a general soup which is often the case with a new singer/songwriter introducing new material. It was the quality of the songs and the added splashes of colour provided by Dave Little that lifted this set well above the run of the mill. £10’s worth already – easily!Â
Next up ‘The Whybirds’ – unknown to this correspondent but not from now on. They blasted into their set with a two song segue that dropped many a jaw. Here were four men plainly in love with 1973, beards from The Joy of Sex, four part harmonies and ‘twin axe attack’. Skynyrd meets The Faces meets Steve Miller and Bob Seger in East Anglia. And the songs…. The songs were complex West coast and Little Feat all sung by different members at different times. They took the roof off the Shed and looked good for another hour. These boys have the songs and musical chops to be very big, if the Kings of Leon can fill stadiums then so can The Whybirds. £10 – can you believe it??! And so can Peter Bruntnell, I’m not sure he’d want to though. The headliner was indeed that. A taut and complex meal mainly taken from the Murder of Crows album the evening built into a surprisingly emotional affair as the material opened up to reveal its heart and the depth of the song writing talent on display. Danny Williams on Double bass was the only rhythm section – a dark solid backbone, Dave Little on harmonium and guitars an excellent foil for the shapes made by PB’s guitar. The Shed was enthralled for over an hour by this most mercurial of talents. Thank you East West . A stunning night. |
| Â |
Apr
13
2009
Spreading Daylight and stars all over the world!
Mar
17
2009
Reverb nation action – flying up the RN charts!
Mar
15
2009
The Ent Shed – Bedford- 14th March 2009
The final night on Petes ecclectic tour could not have been planned any better. (the last gig in Kingston is on Sunday afternoon) I played Bedford a few years ago and was amazed then at the amount of people at the gig and the support that an unknown like me recieved. Tonight was different though. The venue, unlike the previous time at the boat house, was a purpose built gig venue set up perfectly for the kind of night we wanted to put on. The guys at east-west who run the nights seemed to have everything covered and were a pleasure to work with. The sound engineers had a new state of the art Bose PA which somehow made you sound at your most natural but with volume (incredible piece of kit) we were fed, watered and even has someone looking after our CD sales for us. All we needed now in this 120 capacity venue were the people. Sitting in the back room you could here the place steadily filling up but walking out I never expected to see a completely ram packed room with people sat expectantly waiting for what for me has to be my show of the tour.
You could here a pin drop in this place and with such a good sounding PA I could almost whisper songs out but at the same time fill the room with sound. Every song I went onto play recieved a rousing response and come the last it felt like i was playing to a room full of friends and I would have been happy to have stayed playing for longer. However this crowd wasent here for me, this was Pete’s night and I was stoked for him to have the kind of venue, audience and set up that was surely going to make for a fantastic evening.
Returning to the back stage room after playing I was grateful for such a reception and after getting refreshed my ears pricked up to the sound of the whybirds. These guys were rocking out and seemed to raise the gig onto another level, giving a high energy set of strong memorable melodies set to a backdrop of original southern rock anthems. Definately worth checking out should you spot them out and about. (I should be a music journalist….not!!)
Finally Pete comes out with the boys and makes full use of the quality set up giving an amazing performance of the new material. Every song seemed to have people mesmerized. Even though the odd unanswerd calls for the old stuff didn’t happen I think the devotees soon realized that these tracks were matching up to and going further than the Peter Bruntnell classics of old. Judging by the response I think Pete demonstrated that he is still writng and performing some of the best music I know of.
I stood at the back of the room taking it all in, grateful to be part of such a happening and thankful to be travelling around playing support to someone who’s music I think is fantastic.
Cheers Pete.
Cheers Bedford.
It’s the grey horse then home tomorrow.
