ALBUM REVIEW: J.P. Soars Glides Across Genres on ‘Brick by Brick’ – No Depression
J.P. Soars has always turned heads wherever he shows up to play. Opening for Johnny Winter a few years back, the singer and guitarist held the crowd in place for his entire set and made a bucketload of new converts due to his originality and versatility. There is no typical set for Soars, who in the course of an evening might throw in bits of death metal, Django jazz, and Hank-flavored country along with some deep Delta blues.
That diversity is more evident than ever on his latest album, Brick by Brick, a reference to the way he has built his career. Soars reveals on the title track that he got where he is the hard way: “Ain’t lookin’ for nobody to fill my cup / I put in the work and I persevered / Ain’t takin’ no shortcuts round here.” Soars drives that point home by contributing vocals, guitars, Dobro, banjo, bass, lap steel, two-string cigar box guitar, stick dulcimer, and jaw harp throughout the album.
It sounds like Dr. John is peeking out from behind Howlin’ Wolf’s shadow on Soars’ cover of Little Milton’s “That’s What Love Will Make You Do.” Milton’s version is slinky, funky with a second-line strut built in, but Soars just whomps the bejeezus out of it, leaning hard on the bigfoot strut with considerable help from Terry Hanck’s sax work.
Soars heads for the hills at breakneck speed on the bluegrass ramble “Can’t Keep Her Off My Mind,” Anne Harris fiddlin’ like a demon as Soars flips from galloping alongside on banjo to chiming away on one of his hollow-body guitars.
Homage is paid to Django Reinhardt on “Jezebel,” a dark tale of a dangerous woman that reels Soars in with her wicked charms. Not content to leave a simple tribute alone, Soars mixes in a country-and-western feel reminiscent of Marty Robbins (with Dr. John’s accent) as he wanders into a caravan late at night and gets into a whole lot of trouble.
You might not know how to react to every aspect of Soars’ vision, but it sure is a lot of fun to be around. If you can’t dance to it, you can always just stand there with your mouth open and marvel.
