Jeremiah Johnson - Heavens To Betsy (2020) [CD Rip]

Some artists need smoke and mirrors. All Jeremiah Johnson needs are songs. In the age of manufactured pop, the acclaimed St. Louis bandleader is a beacon of time-honored songcraft, writing on acoustic guitar, digging deep for raw lyrics and insisting on studio production that bottles the sweat of his shows. The approach might sound old-school, but on latest record Heavens To Betsy, the result is some of the most vital music of the new decade. Released in 2020 on Ruf Records, Heavens To Betsy is another bold creative leap for an artist on fire. It's been just two years since Straitjacket hit #6 on the Billboard Blues Album chart and scored rave reviews across the board (Blues Blast: "This is grade-A primo stuff"). It was the cherry on top of Johnson's triumphant early career, following up 2014's Grind, 2016's varied Blues Heart Attack, and the confessional Ride The Blues documentary. But while Johnson is rightly proud of that early catalogue - and still serves up house-rocking takes on the Straitjacket material each night - he's always kept one eye on the horizon. "On Heavens To Betsy, I wanted to try something different than any of my previous releases. I really took the 'song first' concept and got back to my roots in blues-based Southern rock." The specter of the US South can be felt in every fiery lick and blue-collar observational lyric. Yet Heavens To Betsy is no exercise in autopilot roadhouse blues. The raging sax of Frank Bauer, either backing up or butting heads with Johnson's driving guitar, has always given the band an added dimension, and with the addition of former Devon Allman percussionist Tony Antonelli, the groove.