Tag: Jonell Mosser

Jonell Mosser breaks into Americana music chart

 in Americana Music

Jonell Mosser, one of our favorites, breaks into the Americana Music Association chart at #38 this week with “Fortunes Lost, Fortunes Told,” As we noted in our review of the album, Jonell is a stirring and soulful singer who has never had the break she deserves. Maybe that’s changing.

With the Jayhawks still at #1 with “Mocking Bird Time,” the only new entry in the top ten is Will Hoge’s “Number Seven” at #9.

Also new to the chart: The self-titled album from Whitehorse at #36 and Lera Lynn’s “Have You Met Lera Lynn?” at #39.

Celebrating the music of Muscle Shoals

 in Americana Music Festival, Reviews

The 2011 Americana Music Festival began last night with an event that illustrates the genre’s greatest strengths: outstanding performances and a respect for what has come before.
The 90-minute concert celebrating the Muscle Shoals sound was equal parts energy and nostalgia, with legendary figures like Dan Penn, Spooner Oldham, Jimmy Johnson and David Briggs sharing the stage with some of Nashville’s most soulful vocalists.
With Webb Wilder on hand as MC, the evening walked through the history of FAME Studio and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, from soul to pop and rock.
Highlights were plentiful. From Jonell Mosser’s take on “Dark End of the Street” to Mike Farris’ “I’d Rather Go Blind” to Jimmy Hall’s “Land of a Thousand Dances,” singers delivered faithful, but moving performances. Special treats: Candi Staton’s “He Called Me Baby” and Dan Penn’s “I’m Your Puppet.”
Billy Burnette performed “The Letter,” which was recorded in 1967 by a young Alex Chilton and the Box Tops at FAME. Oddly, he did the live Joe Cocker arrangement that came three years later.
The show closed with Burnette kicking off an all hands-on-deck performance of Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock ‘n’ Roll.” The song belongs in the “Played Badly at Weddings Receptions Hall of Fame,” but proved to be a vibrant and fitting close.

(Pictured: A  scarce Muscle Shoals anthology.)

Jonell Mosser: Great Fortune

 in Reviews

Jonell Mosser is one of Nashville’s best vocalists and most vibrant performers – and maybe the most under-recognized.
She’s well-known and loved in Nashville, but has never caught the national break she deserved.
When Ringo Starr, Don Was and Benmont Tench formed a new band in the ’90s called the New Maroons, Jonell was their choice for lead singer. When that band foundered after a Farm Aid show, Jonell’s big break was gone.
Yet she has persevered, delivering soul and rock with passion and purpose. Her live dates are electric, and her albums – particularly “Enough Rope, “Trust Yourself” and the sadly unreleased “Time Will Do the Talkin'” – are thoroughly engaging and powerful.
The new “Fortunes Lost, Fortunes Told” ranks with her best work.
Backed by a terrific band that includes Kevin McKendree, Tom Britt and Craig Krampf, the new album is full of love songs for adults, with all that implies.
“Nicer to Me” is a standout, a gently rocking, confident song that asks for a little more respect: “I know sometimes it’s tough baby, but you could be a litle bit nicer to me.”
“Ordinary Splendor,” is a ballad with a classic sound, written with John and Johnna Hall. It first appeared on her “So Like Joy” and is well worth revisiting.
While most of the tracks were written by Jonell and Tom Britt,the handful of covers are impeccable.
The album’s “single” is “I Can Give You Everything, a hard-charging, riff-laden song written by Al Anderson and Terry Anderson. Mosser has covered Al Anderson before; her “Bang Bang Bang” was wall-rattling rock ‘n’ roll.
Jonell clearly has an affinity for Nick Lowe. Her take on “When I Write the Book” was a highlight of her “Enough Rope” album (and her live show) and here she does a compelling cover of his “Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day.”
Nashville has the good fortune to have Jonell Mosser as an artist in residence, but her talent – and “Fortunes Lost, Fortunes Told” – deserve a much wider audience.