JASON EADYThe eighth full-length from singer/songwriter Jason Eady, To
The Passage Of Time first took shape in a frenetic burst of creativity
back in the doldrums of quarantine. Over the course of a three-day
period last August, the Fort Worth, Texas-based musician wrote more
than half of the album, locking himself in his bedroom and emerging
only when he felt completely burnt out. I went in thinking I was going
to write just one songbut then the songs kept coming, and I didnt want
to break the spell, he recalls. Id go to sleep with the guitar by the
bed, pick it back up when I woke up the next morning, and do it all
again. Id never really experienced anything like that before.
With its nuanced exploration of aging and loss and the fragility of
life, To The Passage Of Time arrives as the Mississippi-bred artists
most lyrically complex and compelling work to date. As Eady reveals,
the albums understated power stems in part from the intentionality of
the recording process, which involved enlisting Band of Heathens Gordy
Quist as producer and gathering many of Eadys favorite musicians hes
played with over the years (including Noah Jeffries on mandolin and
fiddle, Mark Williams on upright bass and cello, and Geoff Queen on
Dobro, pedal steel, and lap steel). I really love egoless
playerspeople who know how to serve the song, notes Eady, who recorded
at The Finishing School in Austin and made ample use of the studios
goldmine of vintage gear. We started every song with just me on
guitar, and if someone felt like they had a part to add, they had to
come forward and say what they heard there. Everything was built from
the ground up, and because of that theres no fillernobody playing to
show off or take up space.
The follow-up to 2018s I Travel Onan album that overflows with enough
spontaneous energy to power a fleet of Ford pickups, according to NPRs
glowing reviewTo The Passage Of Time shows the full force of that
approach on the hard-driving lead single Back to Normal. Like all of
the album, Back to Normal was recorded live with no overdubs, bringing
gritty guitar work and galloping rhythms to an urgent meditation on
the inevitability of change. I wanted to write about how, when things
get disrupted, you can never really return to the way they were
before, says Eady. No matter how big or small that disruption is, you
have to accept that change is a fundamental part of life, and just
keep moving forward. The result: an immediately catchy track thats
pragmatic but hopeful, proving Eadys gift for turning uncomfortable
truths into songs with a potent impact.
On the albums exquisite centerpiece French Summer Suna devastating
epic astoundingly captured in the very first takeEady shares one of
his most riveting pieces of storytelling yet. My grandfather fought at
Battle of Anzio in Italy in World War II, and a few years ago on tour
I went to visit the beach where the battle took place, says Eady. I
was struck by how small the beach wasI realized that if my grandfather
had made one wrong move he wouldve been killed, and I wouldnt be
standing there thinking those thoughts. I ended up writing this song
about how when someone dies in war, it isnt just killing that person:
its killing the generations of people who would have come from them.
Building to a shattering plot twist in its final moments, French
Summer Sun drifts between its somberly sung chorus and spoken-word
verses, attaining an unlikely transcendence as Eady sheds equally
poignant light on the horror of war and the ephemeral beauty of
everyday life.
One of the more lighthearted tracks on To The Passage of Time,
Saturday Night muses on the early days of Eadys career, when he and
fellow Texas-based country artist Cody Jinks spent many a night
playing sparsely attended gigs at Lil Reds Longhorn Saloon in Fort
Worth. When youre just getting started as a musician and nobody knows
who you are, theres a lot of nights when youre mostly playing to the
bar staff, says Eady. I was trying to set the scene of playing to an
empty room, and what that really feels like. Co-written by Eady and
his wife Courtney Patton (also a singer/songwriter), Saturday Night
channels that spirited frustration in moody guitar riffs and
soul-stirring vocals, subtly taking on a momentum thats undeniably
exhilarating.
In a particularly meaningful turn for Eady, To The Passage Of Time
closes out with its confessional title track, a piece he regards as
the albums most personal offering. I turned 40 a few years ago, and
this song is me talking directly to time about some of the
realizations Ive had since then, he says. But while the lyrics to To
The Passage Of Time reflect a rueful awareness (I still remember when
I thought you were my friend/You made me feel like this never would
end/Now I am older and I finally see/That youre a little indifferent
to me), the songs dreamy steel tones and luminous harmonies ultimately
summon a certain quiet glory.
A near-lifelong songwriter who names Merle Haggard, Guy Clark, and
Willie Nelson among his main inspirations, Eady grew up in Jackson and
got his start performing in local bars at age 14, showing his natural
grasp of everything from soul and R&B to blues and country. After some
time in the Air Force, he moved to Fort Worth and started playing open
mic nights, where he quickly built up a devoted following. After
independently releasing his debut album From Underneath the Old in
2005, he expanded his touring radius and continued turning out
critically praised work, including 2012s AM Country Heaven (a top 40
debut on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart), 2014s Daylight/Dark
(an album that belongs on a shelf next to Dwight Yoakams Buenos Noches
from a Lonely Room, Joe Elys Letter to Laredo, and yes, even Willie
Nelsons Phases and Stages, according to AllMusic), and his self-titled
2017 effort (hailed by Rolling Stone as [h]eavily steeped in his
storyteller lyrical style and cleverly framed by uncluttered,
acoustic-rich arrangements). Through the years, Eady has also made his
name as an unforgettable live performer, sharing stages with the likes
of Sturgill Simpson, Band of Heathens, and Reckless Kelly.
In creating To The Passage Of Time, Eady incorporated several songs
born from a songwriters group that started up during quarantine,
including Patton along with artists like Brent Cobb, Adam Hood, and
Jamie Lin Wilson (who also joined Patton in contributing harmony
vocals to the album). In the early stages of quarantine we realized
that nobody was getting any writing done, even though we all had so
much downtime, he says. We started this group and gave each other
prompts to try to turn out a song a week, and it really helped get rid
of that paralysis we were all feeling.
Looking back on the making of To The Passage Of Time, Eady points to
such unexpected moments as the recording of the album-opening Nothing
On You. Apart from my guitar, the only two instruments on that song
are cello and steel guitarwhich is a combination Id never heard
before, and gave it a whole new character that took my breath away, he
says. But for the most part, Eady achieved a rare outcome in the
albums production: a direct expression of his deep-rooted and highly
specific vision. I write my songs on acoustic guitar, so sometimes in
the studio things take different turns and end up not really matching
with what you had in your head, says Eady. But because of the approach
we took with this album, theres hardly anything that came out
different from what Id envisioned. This is 100 percent the album I
hoped I would make.
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16/09/2021 Last update