Pages tagged “joe henry”

Singer/songwriter Joe Henry has spent the last dozen years charting one of those careers that has quietly put him on the path towards legendary status. Aside from releasing 11 eclectic and adventurous records of his own (including last year’s Civilians), he has a knack for getting involved in a host of interesting collaborations, from Aimee Mann and Ani DiFranco to Solomon Burke and now Allen Toussaint.

Despair and hope do a drunken dance on Henry's 10th album

There might be someone else playing music in the vein of Joe Henry’s intoxicating folk-noir, but it’s hard to imagine anyone doing it better. The title track to Henry’s excellent new album sets the tone, as he looses his sad sacks into a world where “Life is short / But by the grace of God / The night is long” and the music slinks by in rumpled splendor. In lesser hands, this kind of skid-row songcraft might come off as a Tom Waits rip, but Henry’s painterly attention to detail marks him as his own man. Blurry guitars twinkle like suds in a stein, gospel piano chords suggest salvation deep down in the mix, and drums beat strip-club time to the bluesy melodies. The vaguely apocalyptic imagery of “Time Is a Lion” suggests Henry wouldn’t be surprised if we all ended up in the gutter, but the redemptive “You Can’t Fail Me Now” shows he’s got a sliver of hope for us yet.

On the cusp of releasing his latest album, Civilians (previously reviewed by Paste), legendary singer-songwriter Joe Henry is scheduled to drop by Jay Leno's late-night show this Friday.

Henry's self-described "right kind of clarity" on his latest effort serves up a hearty helping of twangy six-strings, soulful piano and his own bluesy voice, dripping over all the album tracks like spooned molasses on warm biscuits.

Also planned for the near future are a handful of select concert dates in the U.S., as follows:

September
14 - Los Angeles, Calif. @ Largo
20 - New York, N.Y. @ The Gramercy(Blender) Theater
21 - Boston, Mass. @ Museum of Fine Arts

Related links:
JoeHenryLovesYouMadly.com
YouTube video of Joe Henry and Billy Bragg live at SXSW 2006
Andy Whitman's Paste blog on Joe Henry

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I’ve always thought of Joe Henry as Tom Waits in cashmere. Minus the gruff, sandpapery voice, Henry, like Waits, bends past the flavescent pages of someone’s old journal and translates them into full-bodied songs. On Henry’s latest and eighth album, Tiny Voices, the autobiographical theme addresses contrasting stories of love. In the opening track, “This Afternoon,” the protagonist is the child of a cleaning lady who is frequently left poolside at the hotel and is, one day, seduced by an Australian businessman. The snapshots of seemingly insignificant objects like “an upset tray” or “an orange cup” are realistically recounted during this melodious post-traumatic flashback. The sound of fingers collapsing onto piano keys, symbolic of acquiescence, serves as a companion to the insightful lyrics. “This Afternoon” provides the perfect entryway into this voyeuristic and allegorical album. It’s as if each song opens the door into another hotel room where love is celebrated or, more often, in question. Whether it’s the sultry “Animal Skin,” the honeymoon-themed “Lighthouse” or the tear-inducing “Widows of the Revolution,” the most intimate of moments are captured both lyrically and musically. On this album, the percussion, piano, keyboards, guitars and horns act like biochemical secretions washing over the brain, dictating whether the words are met with joy, sadness, confusion or a complex blend of all three. It’s widely known that in Alaska there are hundreds of words used to describe snow. For Joe Henry and his band, there are hundreds of scenarios that can add or strip layers from the foundation of our most primal understanding of love.