Post Description

For an artist to release an album of songs from songwriters who have influenced and inspired them is a legitimate, tried and tested enterprise. With his latest release, Tonight We Ride, Jason McNiff offers up a collection of covers along with a couple of his own compositions. Whilst the inclusion of tracks from the pens of Bob Dylan, Bert Jansch and Townes Van Zandt will not be a surprise, other selections may be a little unexpected, albeit very much in a revelatory way.

The coastal town of Hastings has long had a fine reputation for its thriving music scene, including, for example, his friends Trevor Moss & Hannah Lou with their Lantern Society. When he moved down from London with his family in 2018, Jason instigated regular early evening Sundowner sessions at the Jenny Lind in the High Street. Whilst the former club extinguished its flames in 2019 due to the imminent arrival of a new baby; it was the Pandemic that precipitated a move for the Sundowner gigs to weekly online sessions. The positive response from the fans who supported the venture took Jason aback somewhat, as he says, “I loved playing for people in this new format – who could’ve guessed it would feel so live and intimate! I sometimes played for 2 hours, all the covers I could think of, and learned many new songs to keep the shows fresh and different”. From this background, the album grew, although it is acknowledged that Jason is certainly no stranger to recording covers, for example, the epic Bella Ciao on In My Time.

When FRUK reviewed Jason’s 2018 release Joy and Independence, his first for At The Helm Records, Mike Davies wrote, “… and again underscores the strong Dylan influence that runs through his work”. It is perhaps not surprising, therefore, that two Dylan songs make the cut here. The first of these, One Too Many Mornings, a gentle, melancholic ballad when recorded for 1964’s The Times They Are A Changin’, was later given the full-on electric band treatment on his legendary 1966 concert tour. The version presented here is compelling, eschewing harmonica and featuring Hammond organ, it was previously released as a single, and in an interview with editor Alex Gallacher, Jason revealed its significance, “I love pretty much everything Dylan ever did sand does, but this one is a bit special for me as it comes from the first record I ever bought with my own money”. Whilst a quick search suggests that there have been around 70 recorded English versions of this song, Jason’s sympathetically warm version of Precious Angel, from Dylan’s 1979 Slow Train Coming, appears to have been covered only once previously.

Tracks:
1. Running From Home
2. My Proud Mountains
3. Tonight We Ride
4. Tomorrow Never Knows
5. One Too Many Mornings
6. I Remember You
7. Fisherman's Blues
8. Open Road
9. Hard Times
10. Tunnel of Love
11. Shadow Ships of Deptford
12. Precious Angel
13. Moving On

Staat er compleet op, 10% pars mee gepost. Met zeer veel dank aan de originele poster. Laat af en toe eens weten wat je van het album vindt. Altijd leuk, de mening van anderen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtiGGcC11CQ