Artist:     Glenn Jones

Album:     Ready for the Good Times

Label:     Self-released

Release Date:     2.1.20

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Glenn Jones climbed his way to the summit of corporate America from the bottom up only to fall from grace. With a clear head, thanks to his newfound sobriety and a brush with death, the singer-songwriter returns with his third album, Ready for the Good Times, wrapping coils of rootsy, acoustic folk warmth around story-driven lyrics, incisive social commentary and rich character sketches with a reverence for traditional sounds and stripped-down pop tunefulness.

Serious topics like America’s thorny immigration history and troubling attitudes toward foreigners amid rural decay, are passionately confronted, as a menacing “The Other” embarks on a gently swirling protest march of wheeling piano, stealthy bass, steely acoustic guitar and light dobro. And with the words, “Oh it’s hard when men of evil hold this world in iron hands,” Jones dives into a spare, strummed reading of the record’s opener “Ripples in the Pond,” with mournful violin accompanying civilization’s decline and fall, even as Jones offers a glimmer of hope and determined optimism from his homey pulpit. Stately, swaying countrified ballads such as “I’ve Got a Voice” and the introspective “I Wish You Could See Me Now,” a song about the aftermath of fighting substance abuse, also contrast melancholy and life-affirming positivity – perhaps mirroring some internal struggle that continues to haunt Jones.

All that sadness and gloom is washed away, however, by the boogie-woogie swagger and thinly-veiled sexual innuendo of a sweet, good-natured “My Baby Makes Pie.” Simmering organ lays out a messy, but at the same time clean, inviting and comfortable, bed for the shuffling and softly incandescent male-female duet “Let’s Make Some Good Old Days,” where romance blooms in their twilight years. Meanwhile, “No Fool Like an Old Fool” pokes fun at a mid-life crisis gone bad, with fat tuba and a herky-jerky, New Orleans groove making for an amiable listen. If not always in a jovial mood, Jones still seems intent on letting the “Good Times” roll.

—Peter Lindblad