This teaser, tester and taster of Jessie Kilguss’ sixth album, They Have A Howard Johnson’s There takes its launch point from the fantastically ridiculous announcement that Al Pacino makes in Dog Day Afternoon, “I’ll charter a plane to Algeria. They have a Howard Johnson’s there”. Of course, there is more and more deeply rooted sentiments going on in the song than that, not least the recent loss of her own father, also called Howard, but also dogs in general, and the poetry of Karen Finley. But that is life in a nutshell, a strangely woven and uniquely personal ball of influences and inspiration, experiences and events from which we draw our art.
My recollection of Jessie’s music is of a more serene and subtle experience, so it is great to hear her kick out the jams…a bit, take her shimmering folk-pop-infused vibes and drive a rock and roll groove through them.
The result is excellent, combining the best of both worlds. Not only do we get a cool and raw, foot-on-the-monitor, driving groove, but she still manages to cocoon this with more scintillating and widescreen cinematic sonics. Power and poise, how fantastic is that?
But of course, with engineer, producer, mixer, and mastering maestro Charlie Nieland driving things along, John Kengla covering guitar, bass and keys, Rob Heath on drums and percussion, Dave Derby popping in to lend his voice and even photographer to the stars Shervin Lainez adding his touch, she was always in the very best of company.
If singles are there to excite and intrigue the audience before the big release further down the line, consider me excited and intrigued.
Howard Johnson’s single
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