Artist: Jeff Crosby
Album: Waking Days
Label: Self Released
Release Date: 11/06/2015
Had the zeitgeist-appropriate opportunity somehow manifested, Jeff Crosby could easily have been touring alongside the likes of Poco and the Flying Burrito Brothers at the nexus of America’s fascination with twang.
As it is, Crosby’s latest, Waking Days, is a perfectly reluctant Americana outfit rife with introspection about daily vices and a tinge of Idahoan-bred ennui. Musing about the inherently mundane nature of traffic, coffee and bushwhacking the beaten path, Crosby is not so much pining against anachronistic qualities as he is molding a more perfect internal environment. More often than not, the relatively upbeat tracks counter the slanted woes in a pleasing jaunt addressing the naysayers.
Crosby alludes to his age rather than referencing it directly throughout the record, seeming transient in regards to which decade defines him. Though he now has the vantage point of seeing his alternative roots forefathers through the scope of digital libraries, there remains an underlying fascination with their fragility and vulnerability translated onto wax. Waking Days would have no doubt been a fine addition to one’s record collection, yet it exists just as well on the justifiably relevant media.
Waking Days serves as a reminder of the current state of Americana, prognosticating a shift back in the direction of gloomy awareness, while still getting the proverbial ya ya’s out. Prophetic? Well, good money is on Americana disciples drifting towards the realm of Crosby’s current oeuvre. There’s some learning to be done, but Crosby has comfortably reached the summit for the time being.
– Jake Tully
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