Album Review – Jesse Daniel’s Self-Titled Debut
For so many artists and fans, country music is their compass in life. It conveys a sense of home and comfort like nothing else can. No matter how crazy the world gets, no matter how far one strays from their roots—musically or otherwise—country music is always there to welcome them back with open arms, and envelop them in a sense of familiarity that other things just can’t provide. It’s real country music’s unwillingness to change at the same rapid pace of an ever-changing world, and its presence in the houses of grandparents and hometown squares of everyday America which imbues it with its enriching and warm quality.
More so than ever, it is easy for one to get sidetracked in their life with the chemical temptations lurking around every corner, or distracted by technology permeating daily life. Often the important audience one keeps with one’s self goes silent, and outside voices become the most influential sounds inside the mind and soul. Like so many, this is what happened with Santa Cruz, California-based punk rocker, convict, and drug addict turned country crooner Jesse Daniel. A tattered upbringing in a broken home located in a small California mountain town left him looking for ways to express his anger and numb his pain in ways he felt country music just couldn’t provide. So he fell into playing drums in ragtag punk bands, and spending days chasing down hard drugs.
“I felt like there was a group of people who understood what I carried around on my shoulders… and they were just as pissed as I was,” Jesse Daniel says. “I became a garbage can. Any drug I could get, I’d take, until I found heroin. After that it was a wrap, that’s all I wanted to do. I started getting arrested and missing shows, to the point where I sold my drums just not to get sick. I traded everything for nothing.”
But when it was time to either clean up, get straight, or die, country music is what created the pathway for Jesse Daniel to find himself again and his proper place in the world, just like it has done for so many who have gone astray, and sought out the music as a guidepost to help return them to equilibrium, and a sense of self that country music conveys.
Already a seasoned drummer, Jesse Daniel bought a $50 guitar at a pawn shop, and as part of his efforts at sobriety and walking the straight and narrow, he started delving deep into country music of the style he used to hear when growing up—the style of country music that hasn’t changed much in the last 60 years. With a life’s worth of heartaches and hard experiences to use as story fodder and inspiration, he set out to write and record this self-titled album. It is self-released, and performed mostly by Jesse himself, including much of the drum and guitar work.
Rambunctious, edgy, greasy and gritty in a good way, Jesse Daniel brings a lot of wild-eyed exuberance to a traditional country sound mixed with just enough of an old school rockabilly edge and true-to-life lyrics to keep it youthful and interesting. This record is home spun for sure, meaning the recordings and Jesse’s songwriting aren’t ready to call slick or polished just yet, but the album does capture Jesse streaking out of the gates, and doing something much more entertaining and compelling than those aiming for audio perfection.
There isn’t much hidden between the lines on this debut record. With songs like “Soft Spot (For The Hard Stuff),” “Hell Bent,” and “SR-22 Blues,” Jesse takes his experiences and hard scratches them right into the grooves of the melodies. But beyond the lyrics, the album is full of ultra-twangy telecaster, and bouts of steel guitar and piano that get the juices of traditional country fans flowing. And even though this is no high production project, Jesse procures whatever his songs call for, like the saxophone in the old school, Jerry Lee Lewis-style “Gracie Henrietta.”
The recordings and songwriting could have used a little bit more time in the oven here and there perhaps, but this self-titled debut is definitely an auspicious start for Jesse Daniel, and one hell of a good time. Along with entertaining us gawkers who love to hear about harrowing sides of life harder than our own, hopefully it puts Jesse on sure footing and the path to life’s truest riches, which is finding one’s self and embracing one’s true identity.
Country isn’t just music. It can be a hand up, and a way home. It most certainly was for Jesse Daniel.
1 1/2 Guns Up
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June 5, 2018 @ 8:30 pm
Not too bad at all, Trigger. “California Highway” is perhaps leaning towards the throw-back, cliché of what a country song is (or was?) but sung with passion over some nice natural instrumentation. “Soft Spot for the Hard Stuff” sounds a little more contemporary (to me) and I quite like it. For unknown reasons, Jesse’s background as a punk rocker adds a degree of credibility to the music and lyrics. Definitely an album I will keep an eye out for.
June 5, 2018 @ 10:11 pm
That first paragraph made me feel all warm and fuzzy about hometown squares and grandparents and country music and stuff…
Nice review though, and I like this guy’s sound, especially the guitars. Personally, I will take less polished production over too polished, too slick production any day…but this could have used a bit of help. The drums in particular sound pretty small. It doesn’t hold back the music too much though.
June 5, 2018 @ 10:48 pm
Just curious – how come you give some bands a rating out of 10, but others just the guns?
June 5, 2018 @ 11:02 pm
The review is what ultimately conveys my opinion on a given album or song. I understand that grades can be useful, but they can also be constricting and misunderstood. I think if you get too serious about grading music, you diminish its value. So I purposely keep my grading system wonky and nebulous.
June 6, 2018 @ 3:41 am
I’m just gonna use this space to say that if you haven’t given these 2 albums a listen, you’re sorely missing out :
1. The Country Side Of Harmonica Sam – Maybe the best kept secret in country music. Traditional as hell.
2. Randall King – This sounds like 90s country done pitch perfectly. Great vocals and hooks.
June 6, 2018 @ 4:39 am
Good find & good review.
It’s not my kind of country-(sound)…but there is something about the voice of Jesse Daniel i like & some of the songs too. Sounds like a “live” album. Good for a “California Highway”, a german autobahn or a gravel road in a fast car on a hot day.
June 6, 2018 @ 7:56 am
excited to listen to this.
“But when it was time to either clean up, get straight, or die, country music is what created the pathway for Jesse Daniel to find himself again and his proper place in the world, just like it has done for so many who have gone astray, and sought out the music as a guidepost to help return them to equilibrium, and a sense of self that country music conveys.”
I dont play music, but this essentially my story as well. I was a heroin addict up until a few years ago, and had never spent a minute listening to country music in my life (i grew up in suburban NYC). I got back from rehab and needed something to help me find my place again, so I figured I would try country music. Its amazing what it has done for my life these past few years. The paragraph above spelled it out perfectly. thanks for your great writing and insight
June 6, 2018 @ 8:06 am
Perfect music is perfectly boring. – Merle Haggard
Jesse Daniel is the real deal. This is as straight forward and honest as a music review gets. Thanks for being one of the good ones.
June 6, 2018 @ 9:44 am
Very excited about this show.
These guys are going to take off!
June 6, 2018 @ 2:45 pm
If you’re a fan of Hellbound Glory, you’d probably enjoy this guys music (based on the two songs above, at least).
June 6, 2018 @ 5:44 pm
The number of heroin/opiate addicts that don’t make it forward seems to outweigh those that do by about a zillion to one. (Known quite a few.) Not sure the odds of then putting out a great album. Whatever those odds, though, here we are.
June 6, 2018 @ 10:09 pm
What a compelling review, and I enjoy “Soft Spot For the Hard stuff.” I agree the production could have used some help, but I’d prefer this over too polished, especially with lyrics like these.
June 7, 2018 @ 6:53 am
Only took 1 listen of the album to like it. it will get more plays.