Jeffrey Dean Foster – I’m Starting to Bleed EP (Jeffrey Dean Foster)

With only three solo LPs since 2001, this June 12, 2021 Record Store Day EP from Winston-Salem, NC singer/guitarist Foster (ex-Right Profile/Carneys/Pinetops) is welcome. As on 2014’s The Arrow, he’s aided by famed R.E.M. producers, Don Dixon and Let’s Active’s Mitch Easter, who both mixed. Though Foster’s expressive, robust voice still recalls Tom Petty, his earlier Americana leanings are abandoned. The EP’s uplifting, cinematic title track – presented in two equally striking mixes, it was written in response to the global Black Lives Matter protests last summer following George Floyd’s senseless and cruel murder – and the resonant, acoustic “When Was the Last Time,” elicit Snow Patrol, Band of Horses, and One Eskimo alterna-rock, while “Tell Somebody” (with its “Pinball Wizard” intro) is loud and fuzzy, Big Star/Raspberries/Posies power pop, and “Headin’ Home” is a zesty, chugging, Flamin’ Groovies-meets-Lyres garage rocker. That the EP benefits The Shalom Project, which aids North Carolina families in need, is all the more reason to get it.

Jeffrey Dean Foster: Website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube
The Shalom Project: Website

“Tell Somebody”