Singer/Songwriter Jim Jones

Live at the Borderline June 26th 2009

Live at the Goldcoast Oceanfest June 21st 2009

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.

Peter Bruntnell, The Whybirds and Jim Jones – Ent Shed , Bedford – 14th March 2009

Had a great night playing at the Aggi with a host of other local muso’s.
Always a pleasure to play the paddle for relief gigs when its always well attended and for such a great cause. To check out how the night went have a look at thier facebook group here. P4R

The last of the dates on this tour brings us back to Pete’s local and musicians favorite The Grey Horse in Kingston upon Thames. A friendly pub filled with music loving people that all seem to know Pete well and the fact that there are photo’s of him on the walls gives you an indication of the love they have for him.

Also on the wall I notice the running order for the afternoon and following Papa George ( a fantastic blues musician who was playing on our arrival) is Peter Bruntnell. .

Pete starts with Dave doing a small set of classic covers and then announces that Im going to play a half hour set in the middle of his slot.

The fact that I wasent billed to play at this point and then was going to take half an hour away of what should have been thier beloved Mr Bruntnell left me feeling a little bit nervous and a touch uneasy.

However I soon found out I had nothing to worry about as the warm supportive locals gave me a fantastic reception and I could see why Pete refers to this place as his home pub.

Half an hour later and I play my last song of the tour.

A brilliant week of playing varied venues and meeting some wonderful people.
Im grateful to Pete for asking me to come and grateful to all the ears that listened that had never heard of me and even then went on to buy my new album.

I hope to be back.

See you on the next one.

Thanks

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.

Arrived in London with a little time to spare so after having my nose pressed up against the windows ( like a kid at a cake shop) to the guitar shops in Denmark street I took my self off to the cinema. The only flick showing at the time I had to spare was the film “doubt.” A brilliantly acted film, that made great use of my free afternoon as the time seemed to pass in a moment. Met up with the guys, soundchecked, got some noodles, had a pint and felt ready for the night ahead.

Started at the borderline a little later than stated just so a few more punters could make their way down into the basement venue and generate more of a vibe. I started on my own with “find me out” to what seemed like only a few onlookers but when i looked up I was actually playing to a attentively silent and fairly busy room. Dave soon joined me on stage and once again did a great job of playing around my songs and not over them too much. He’s great to have around. 9 songs later and it’s all over for me again and I am grateful for the rousing applause of the now busy club. I’ve got time to have a beer and then take myself off to man the Merch stand at the back where I sold quite a few more albums. Thank you London. A band called the epstein were up next followed by Mr Bruntnell and the boys. Pete showed the packed room just why he is heralded as one on britains best songwriters. He played a blinder!
Worthing tomorrow. It’s all good.

Speak soon.

The last time I played at The Railway I was greeted with a warm, supportive and listening crowd. A community of music lovers that seem to have an understanding and respect to really give attention to the band or musician playing. (which can be often lost in pubs) It was really appreciated. There was a kind of intensity about the atmosphere, which somehow meant the songs connected more. I think i may have gained a few more listeners. I had some great compliments and shifted a few CD’s – a great start to my five days with Bruntnell. Emily Barker and her band were up after me followed by Pete and his murder of crows. Emily sounds great, worth checking out.

Pete played a superb set of new and old, the highlight for me was his new song “black window” (i think it was called.) Dave and Danny coloured in the sound to perfection.

I’m liking this live blogging thing, don’t want to get carried away though. Not sure what else to write. May need some sugestions of the kind of things you would want to know about. London beckons. Speak soon. Jim

AMERICANA UK REVIEW -

Peter Bruntnell Band + Emily Barker & Red Clay Halo + Jim Jones – Railway Inn, Winchester – 10th March 2009-

Review by Mike Plumbley 

Tonight was a classic gig from beginning to end. I like to get to the Railway early be sure to catch the opening act, tuck myself in close to the stage in this haven from the blare of soulless beer joints, among a tight knit crowd out for a night of great music. And this trio of acts in from the road bring it on in style. 

Jim Jones, like Peter Bruntnell and band, is up from Devon. The songs are deep and heartfelt, he’s unrushed in uncoiling them and they sink right in on a first listening. A song or so in, he’s joined by Dave Little, who plugs in an electric guitar and adds a haunting line to The Road To You. I’m stood there, cradling my cheap Mexican beer, listening to the guitar work and song thinking of how Ray Wylie Hubbard once described Terry Buffalo Ware’s playing as ‘tearing off little fragments of his soul to colour the songs.’ Phew, the bar was set and it never fell. The song of Jim Jones that convinced me to part with my folding stuff was Evelyn. A good friend had a bad time of it last year, her name is Evelyn. I think she’ll love the song as much as I love the new album Daylight and Stars, recalling as it does the tone and swell of this great opening set. 

It took a bit of sound checking to sort out Emily Barker and Red Clay Halo. There was fiddle, flute, accordion, cello and Emily Barker’s guitar and the sound guy got it spot on as far as I can tell. ‘The bottom was low and the treble’s clear’ as Townes would have said. Emily Barker is an Australian who’s been here for a while, but I hadn’t realised she and the Red Clay Halo did the theme to the ‘Wallander’ detective series. 

The classical ambience of the girls lent itself to Emily’s gentle voice and the music and singing was evocative of the song of the Sirens that bewitches the hobo in the Cohen’s ‘Brother Where Art Thou’. The combination of flute with fiddle and cello really worked with Emily Barker’s vocal, it was all subtle and superbly sung and played. 

As complement to the final act, both opening sets were perfect and as the Peter Bruntnell Band moved onto the stage, I began to think back to a time when I spent time more time in the Metropolis than I do now. I’m thinking of the night a young unknown songwriter called Slaid Cleaves from New Hampshire opened at the Borderline, followed by Carrie Newcomer and her band, ably helped out by Terry Buffalo Ware before that ‘dangerous spirit’ Ray Wylie Hubbard took the stage and poured out that Oklahoma hoodoo rhythm he carries with him deep from the heart of Texas. 

There was a symmetry about that evening which was being repeated right before me tonight. The Peter Bruntnell Band are a trio, a dangerously spirited trio who began with an almost raga like riff that resounded off the walls. I am in awe of it from the opening bars right to the end of the night. The way Dave Little opens up the heart of Peter Bruntnell’s songs with his lead guitar licks and touches of Indian harmonium and how Danny Williams’ double bass lines tug against the syllables and underpin the vocal with gorgeous deep mellow bowed notes. 

There is just a natural sense of energy about this band and Peter Bruntnell’s songs shine, his laconic sense of story, time and space fits it all like a glove. I know next to nothing about him, save he comes up from Devon and shares his songwriting with a transatlantic soul brother called Bill Ritchie. 

What he and his band bring to this small back bar is a kind of gem plucked out of the ether: beautifully crafted songs, performed with a passion and honed and coloured by the road dirt on them. Were she not up in the metropolis my daughter would have flipped tonight to have heard Peter Bruntnell sing ‘Close of Winter’ and ‘Sea of Japan’ from the latest album, ‘Peter and The Murder of the Crows’. He sang them with an aching grace that had stunned her the first time she heard them. 

Amongst the set, ‘John’ remains for me one of those turns in the road that leads to the unexpected. Peter Bruntnell explains that he wrote it after watching the Johnny Cash biopic ‘Walk The Line’. influenced by a tale “which may not be true but it’s a good story . . . Elvis wrote love letters to June Carter and Johnny found them and threw them in the river . . .”. A cracking story and a belting song, which has that kind of Sun Studio, Memphis backbeat to it that makes you want to head straight back to Tennessee. 

It was a gem of a set, littered with pearls and very little chat; the songs, as they say, said it all. Unexpected was the encore of a Roy Harper song about autumn and a final couple of classic song from the Bruntnell back catalgue. The hour was late and, long overdue, I took home a copy of Ghost In A Spitfire.�
I miss a lot of trains, but then I catch some blinders too. Like the dangerous spirits in from the road tonight.