Overcome

Bluegrass, blues, and good old fashioned rock and roll... Jones Street Station are steeped in American music. Their role models are as various as their moods. From the pop-punk infectiousness of “Last Time,” to the country-tinged promise of “One Last Love Song,” featuring a surprising guest lead
vocal by Jon Langford, Jones Street Station give every listener something with which to identify.

Veterans of New York City’s music scene, JSS bring it home on OVERCOME, their debut album. Twelve tracks showcase the band’s signature sound: tight compositions played with a loose, live feel. Master storytellers, they sing and play with a rare ease and confidence that allows the words and notes room to breathe. Indeed, allows these elements to be the story, as well as tell it.

And in the end, it all comes down to the story. Four of the Boys are songwriters, and nine of OVERCOME’S tracks are original compositions. Love and loss manifest themselves in a multitude of forms on the album, from a captain and his ship in “Julia Belle” to the hesitant connections—to a friend or
a bottle—in “Hello Lonesome” and “Oh Night.” The title track, “Overcome,” articulates the foundation of all their work: the dichotomy of misfortune. To be overcome—capsized by time and emotion—creates the opportunity to overcome, rising above. In the tradition of timeless songwriting, OVERCOME relates inevitable struggle, and it is the breath of hope that finally radiates from each song.

Three courageous covers round out the album and pay homage to heroes: Bill Monroe, John Hartford, and The Band. “Walls of Time,” “Tall Buildings,” and “Twilight” shine with their reworking of traditional arrangements. In particular, they have made “Walls of Time” their own. This bluegrass jam standard is here transformed into a love song as rich and alive as the soil in which the whistling pines grow. Co-author Peter Rowan has even given it his expert stamp of approval. And “Tall Buildings” has become the Boys’ signature sign-off, the haunting harmony in their partially a cappella presentation never fails to ground their audience to the present, as colored by the bittersweet past and future.