Album Review: Jerron Paxton, ‘Things Done Changed’
Although Jerron Paxton was born and raised in Los Angeles, he is steeped in the musical traditions of Louisiana; that’s where his family lived before moving to California. Listening to his grandmother’s records, Paxton plunked out banjo notes and chords, picking up ragtime, folk, and blues stylings. On Things Done Changed, his first album of all original songs, Paxton delivers often humorous stories about the foibles of human nature and the enduring power of culture to shape our lives in his gravelly vocals and spare acoustic instrumentation.
Paxton bends the guitar strings brightly on the down-to-the-bone blues of the title track, a song about the vagaries of love and the can’t-live-with-you-can’t-live-without-you feelings embedded in the singer’s heart. Regret, hope, and nostalgia weave around one another just as Paxton’s mournful harmonica snakes under his guitar strumming on the simmering “Baby Day Blues.”
Paxton also blows a mean harp on the instrumental “Little Zydeco,” a toe-tapping medley of “Turkey in the Straw,” “The Cottonwood Reel,” and “The Chicken Reel,” featuring the well-known phrase, “shave and a haircut.” On the talking blues “So Much Weed,” Paxton tells the tale of how society’s attitudes toward marijuana have changed over the past 30 years, his vocals riding over his slithering slide guitar. The upbeat juke joint “Mississippi Bottom,” featuring Paxton’s fingers prowling up and down the frets of his guitar, dances around the singer’s love for a woman he’s left behind in all his moves, while the jumping blues “Out in this World” reminisces about the world the singer’s left behind while he’s out on the road, and he admits that he’s “got to carry y’all in my heart/to give my mind some ease/And let every place I hang/ my hat seem like home to me.” On “Oxtail Blues,” Paxton’s tinkling New Orleans piano chords create an atmospheric foundation for his tongue-in-cheek blues about the price of oxtails in a gentrified world.
Jerron Paxton pays tribute to his traditions on Things Done Changed, showcasing how deeply he’s imbibed from the waters of DeFord Bailey, Robert Johnston, and Lead Belly, among others, while innovating within those traditions.
###
Things Done Changed is available HERE
Resources
JerronPaxton.com
Tour
Music & Merch
Follow at:
