Reviews
GOING THE DISTANCE - JUNE 2022 Release
This Austin-based couple have been presenting their unique blend of soft folk-rock for a number of years. Conceived and recorded during the pandemic, this latest record is an apt soundtrack to nowhere during a time marked by creeping anxiety, societal fraying, and no real answers. Their’s is a low-key sound in a certain respect, but the messages they convey reflect everyday scenarios and situations bolstered by an array of current topics, The fact that these songs maintain such a low-cast gaze only accentuates the earnest emotions that populate the material, adding a sense of optimism and furtive longing at the same time. An intensely alluring album it is a roots celebration that uplifts with their stunning harmonies, Jim’s rough-hewn lead vocals and the inventive instrumental support provided by such Austin studio veterans as Warren Hood (fiddle), Rich Brotherton (acoustic guitar, cittern, mandolin), Bill Kirchen (Telecaster), Eric Hisaw (lead guitar), John Bush (percussion), all brought together by producer Ron Flynt (bass, piano. harmonium, harpsichord, accordion, acoustic 12-string and baritone guitar).
Cast in gorgeous arrangements and carried to uplifting realms, the themes cover love, sorrow, struggle, under-achievement but also encourage ambition, friendship and unity against a superb foot-tapping come head-nodding musical outage. This isn’t to say the album is chock full of rainbows, but rather it brings forth semblances of goodness through confronting the emotional and tangible stress and confusion every human being faces. The title song, a co-write by Jim Patton and Jeff Talmadge, though specifically dealing with his relationship with Sherry, is universal in its theme of a couple working through the ups-and-downs of staying together despite everything that life throws at them. In this time where anxiety is high and comfort difficult to find, this warm musical embrace is just what we need about now. The pair speak for most of us with Struggling, a song that rings with resolute determination to traverse this crazy world of an obstacle course of on-going difficulties.
They ply each of their arrangements with carefully considered subtlety and finesse. There’s a Holly-esque vibe to Brand New Love. While it is infused with that sense of longing, the song is in fact a joyful celebration of how the whole world lights up in those first few weeks of falling head-over-heels in love. In that sense the duo possesses an uncanny knack for parlaying earnest emotion into an otherwise unassuming setting. They ring the musical changes with the vibrant Austin Night, a dynamic slice of country-rock with Bill Kirchen adding his distinctive Telecaster aided by 1950s-styled vocal harmonies, as the track rocks and bops back in time. Jim’s voice is exquisite, his writing organic and relatable, especially on I’m Still A Dreaming Man, and the music is timely. The sparsely used instrumentation—which employs harpsichord, harmonium, accordion and acoustic guitar—is effective, but it’s the predominant plain-spoken heartfelt vocal that’s the star of the show. There really is something quite beautiful about the main melody and Jim’s soft voice. They close the album with a 30-second a cappella version of Going The Distance (Slight Return), a choral rendition with Betty Soo adding to the gorgeous four-part harmony-work. A calm caress is needed more than ever these days, and as a result, Jim Patton and Sherry Brokus and company deserve kudos for maintaining such ease and equilibrium. GOING THE DISTANCE is very fluid and flowy. Give it a listen and unwind.
Alan Cackett - Americana, Country, Roots and Bluegrass Music - May 2022
Overall, this disc indirectly reflects recent events. Thankfully, it is free of any COVID-related songs but it does effectively explore such related themes as dreams deferred, plans gone awry, experiencing loneliness, and working to mend relationships with significant others. Perhaps most importantly, Patton and Brokus perform as if making this disc is the highlight of their year. So check out Jim Patton & Sherry Brokus’ Going The Distance because you might just discover a “Brand New Love.” -- Will Phoenix, HVY.com - LINK TO ENTIRE REVIEW - May 2022
'Going The Distance' is already one of the absolute top hits of 2022 for me. Just another wonderful example of top Americana reaching us from Austin, Texas” - Fred Schmale, Real Roots Café - The Netherlands - May 2022
THE GREAT UNKNOWN
"Patton has improbably deepened and broadened his art" - The Washington Post's music critic, Geoff Himes
"The duo rises to whole new levels". "Patton....centered, while Brokus takes many more leads, changing the album's textural dynamics...by far the best material they've recorded". - John Conquest, Third Coast Music
# 27 Country New Music Weekly 2-7-14
# 23 NMW Country Top 30 Indie Chart 2-7-14
Top 50 FOLK Dj Chart
Rich Warren Pic - "On The Day I Leave This World" and "After the Dance"
Americana Radio Charting
Geoff Himes Top 100 Albums of 2013
RAY OF HOPE
Ray of Hope (Berkalin) - There's an underlying sweetness in the acoustic music of Jim Patton & Sherry Brokus, enough to evoke smiles of indulgence, but not to dismiss Ray of Hope as featherweight folk. Polishing the various guises of coupling (Wrong End of Love), most honestly and authentically in the utterly charming (Ballad of the Oxbow Inn), this is a catchy, confessional timeline of Patton and Brokus' courtship. Produced by Ron Flynt, Ray of Hope doesn't sugarcoat and doesn't wander, qualities often underrated in songwriting and performance.
–Margaret Moser, Texas Platters, Fri., Feb. 11, 2011
The 25-year veteran, acoustic folk-rock duo Jim Patton & Sherry Brokus’ newest release was recorded and produced at Jumping Dog Studios, which is just about five minutes down the road from Austin Music + Entertainment headquarters. Jumping Dog’s founder and owner, Ron Flynt, also plays bass, keyboards, guitar and sings backup on Ray of Hope. While Patton and Brokus’ soft-spoken arrangements tend, at times, to muffle Flynt’s instrumental contributions, his production work on the album is the lynchpin for the album’s success.
Jim Patton sings in a weathered, conversational tone that never feels the need to reach out in aggression or anger. Brokus has more range in her lungs, but her attack is not significantly more forceful than her partner. On many of the tracks, whether the sprightly opener I Never Give Up or plaintive closer I Turn To You, it feels like any more ingredients than the two voices and Patton’s guitar would overwhelm the balance of the music. Ray of Hope is overwhelmingly gentle and pleasant, maybe to a fault. Flynt makes the whole thing sound so intimate and cozy that the record pulls it off.
By letting the performances lay as they would and not pumping them up necessarily, the strengths of Patton’s compositions shine through. Thornton Ave. is a slice-of-life narrative that has Ray Davies’ skill in drawing a world through small details. Wrong End of Love boogies and shakes like rockabilly. She’s So Disappointed is the LP’s most resonant song, drawing a deeply sad and sympathetic portrayal of someone realizing their best days are behind them. “She has affairs with married men/old high school boyfriends/she’s so disappointed/because they haven’t changed since then.” It’s a powerful composition, one of Patton’s and Brokus’ best, because of the truth in its story, the simplicity of its delivery and the song-altering change of perspective in the final lines.
Not everything matches up to She’s So Disappointed, though. This record is not a landmark release; at least half of the songs don’t bring the big guns of sentiment to make an impression beyond the (mostly) sub-three minute runtime. But at 33 minutes, the album is light enough on its toes to keep the listener’s interest. The penultimate (Ballad of the) Oxbow Inn is a fun autobiography that reinforces the good, open-arms spirit of the album and Patton & Brokus’ appeal as artists in general. Ray of Hope is one of 2011′s earliest true-blue Austin records.
Final Grade: *** (out of five)
–Austin Music Entertainment, January 20, 2011
"The lyrics take center stage in Patton& Brokus' latest. It takes a life lived to write about the day to day and turn it into poetry. They have grace, depth and compassion and it's all musically brought forth with brilliant instrumentation."
–Terri Hendrix
"Intelligent urban poetry…it's the duo's bedrock integrity that powers their music,"
–3rd Coast Music.
The first voice you hear on Edge City's 2006 album, Keepers of the Flame, is Jim Patton's, singing his own lyrics, "This isn't the life that I pictured, but this is the life that I chose." As Lloyd Maines' dobro bends the notes towards-but-not-quite-to a different harmony, as the rhythm section of Glenn Fukunaga and Freddie Krc pushes the beat towards-but-not-quite-to another gear, the resulting tension raises the question: Why would anyone choose a life different from the one they pictured? When Patton grew up in the suburbs of Baltimore, enthralled by the music of Bob Dylan, Van Morrison and Neil Young, he pictured himself living a life like his heroes'. He clung to that dream even as he formed his band Edge City and married his singing partner, Sherry Brokus. But the rock star's life is reserved for only a handful and as he reached 35, Patton realized he was not one of the chosen few. At that point, he could have done what many musicians have done: put aside the guitar, find a regular job and raise a family. But that's not the life that he chose. Patton and Brokus realized that as much as they would enjoy the limousines and tractor trailers full of sound equipment that come with stardom, that wasn't their motivation. They came to the music for the thrill they got from hearing Dylan's It's All Over Now, Baby Blue, Neil Young's Powderfinger or Billy Kemp'sJanesville. They stayed with music for the chance to create such thrills themselves. And as they reached their mid-30s, they were finally figuring out how to reach that creative standard. Sure, they would have preferred the life they once pictured, but that wasn't the choice that was offered to them. The choice was between a safe, comfortable middle-class life or a riskier music career. They chose the latter. They decided that the reward of making important music was more important than anything else. They had seen how a lack of recognition had twisted Kemp, Maryland's best singer-songwriter of the '80s, into silence by the mid-'90s. So they weren't going to worry about their low profile; they were going to concentrate on honing their skills. In the early '90s, Edge City recorded a series of remarkable tracks featuring Kemp as producer and guitarist, memorable moments such asMillion Miles Away and One False Move. It didn't matter how few people heard this music; it was the real thing. That was enough, for the time being. I had co-produced most of Kemp's recordings, so I followed Edge City's evolution with great interest. I suggested that they might want to attend the South by Southwest Music Conference in Austin, because it was a focal point for like-minded musicians on a similar mission. I should never have done it, for Patton and Brokus loved Texas so much that they moved away from Maryland, where I live, to Austin in 1994. Our loss was Texas' gain. Austin is the kind of a town where if you go to a party and introduce yourself as a singer-songwriter, you're going to have to pull out a guitar sooner or later and show what you've got. Patton did, and the Texans were impressed by his craft and the passion behind it. Before long he was meeting musicians he had known only from the small print on his record collection. When Edge City released a four-song EP, Ray of Light, in 1998, Patton and Brokus were backed by the likes of Gurf Morlix, Marvin Dykhuis, Paul Pearcy and Amy Tiven. When the duo released the 12-song album, Mystery Ride, in 2000, the producer and dobroist was Lloyd Maines of Joe Ely and Dixie Chicks fame, and the musicians included David Grissom, Glenn Fukunaga and Darcie Deaville. This was heady company. Patton and Brokus still weren't making any money to speak of from their music, but they had the satisfaction of hearing their songs played by terrific musicians and the satisfaction of knowing the songs were good enough to deserve such support. Maybe it wasn't the life they had pictured, but it was the life they had chosen. Heartened by these first steps, Patton set out to write an album of new songs. He reworked a set of my old lyrics, reworked an old folk song, co-wrote two songs with his high school pals Lew Morris and Frank Mirenzi, dug out an old song he'd written with Brokus about their daughter Meaghan and wrote nine more by himself. As always, the music sets up camp in that territory where mainstream classic rock overlaps with roots music and singer-songwriters. Edge City wants the words to be heard, but they also want the words to get pushed along by the guitars and drums. After all, Patton does not present himself as a detached observer but as deeply involved participant, and the rhythm represents the urgency he's feeling. The new album, produced by Austin fixture Bradley Kopp, features guitarist Jon Sanchez and fiddler Darcie Deaville from the Edge City road band as well as Maines, Krc and Fukunaga, as mentioned above. In many of these songs, there's a decision waiting to be made. In Somewhere Else There's a Promised Land, the narrator sits on the marble steps of a Baltimore rowhouse and wonders if he should stick around the neighborhood or go off in search of some elusive utopia. In "Wings of an Airplane," a woman stands in the terminal at the Baltimore-Washington International Airport, awaiting the father who abandoned her as a child, wondering whether to stay or go, cry or scream. In 27 Voices, a man listens to the voices in his head, each trying to outshout the other, and wonders which one is telling him the truth. On Don't Say Goodbye, we're back on those rowhouse steps, as one friend is packing the car to leave town in search of that promised land. The other friend isn't going anywhere, and he wonders what happens now to their friendship. "I wrote the words," Patton sings, "you sang the tune. Don't say 'Goodbye'; say 'See you soon.'" On the opening track, Fortunate Man, Patton examines his life, the life of the struggling singer-songwriter, a life of tight budgets, small audiences and endless do-it-yourself tasks. This wasn't the life he'd pictured. Was it the life he should have chosen? Yes, he concludes: For I have the fairest of lovers, And I have the truest of friends. And I have a place I can go When my darkness descends. And I have a dream still inside me, And I've got this guitar in my hand. Measured by that, I am a fortunate man.
-Geoffrey Himes writes about music for the Washington Post, Paste Magazine, the Baltimore City Paper, Jazz Times Magazine, the Houston Chronicle, Harp Magazine, the Nashville Scene, Texas Music Magazine, Offbeat and others. His stage musical, "A Baltimore Christmas Carol," premiered in 2004, and his book on Bruce Springsteen, "Born in the U.S.A.," was published in 2005.