John Heart Jackie

Music is sometimes functional. It provides a soundtrack to your regular life in a way that feels like assistance. It's like a little helper making the chores go by faster, more efficiently, making the long and dusty road more inviting, making life a little easier. 

Should you have such a road laid out in front of you, or a gigantic pile of laundry doing the same, the folk sounds of John Heart Jackie is the perfect help. 

This might sound demeaning. This band spends years cultivating a following, releasing lush harmonic dust-covered tunes of true romantic Americana, and I call them laundry help. 

But it's the contrary. 

You see, to a person not on the road, to a guy with mouths to feed and his preteen daughter's little bras to fold, a little help is welcomed, cherished even. So much music seems intended for distraction from the little things that make life, well, life. Escapism. To be able to press play on a record like Episodes (out January 22, 2016 on Pour Le Sport) and go about the mundane process of living a normal life, and to have that record tap you on the shoulder and be like, hey man, this shit is not so bad. We understand. We got you. We're on the team. We'll help out. Well, to a guy like me that shit is priceless. 

John Heart Jackie's Episodes is ripe with heart-wrenching imagery, biting truths, and chilling talent. It gave my busy mind permission ponder, wander, saunter down hallways of memories and contemplations that felt therapeutic and left me feeling better for having listened to it. It didn't judge. It sat with me. The record was as friendly as it was empathetic. 

I didn't feel like John Heart Jackie were trying to convince me to run away with them. I felt like they were cool with the unfolded American towels and burning frozen American pizza. And that made me love them.