JUDE JOHNSTONE
On A Good Day (BoJak Records)
Reviewed by Eric Steiner

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On a Good Day features 11 finely-crafted songs, which shouldn't be a surprise as Jude Johnstone's been writing in the woodshed for folks like Johnny Cash, Trisha Yearwood, Jennifer Warners, Stevie Nicks, and Bonnie Raitt for years. Raitt, along with Jackson Browne and Rodney Crowell, contribute some background vocals on "Hold On" (not Jackson's song, but Johnstone's original tune), "Evelyn," and "Long Way Back."

"On a Good Day" and "20 Years" read like private diaries I've never kept, and at times I feel like she's performing heart surgery with rusted butter knives. The title cut wistfully recalls love lost and closes with the couplet "And I wish those memories were dead/But I'll cherish them instead." Twenty years of marriage unravels in less than four minutes on "20 Years," leaving the husband searching for reasons why he spent "20 years with his heart in her hand/20 years of giving - he cannot understand." A hypnotic piano weaves throughout "Hold On," but its lessons resonate long after "Just lookin' for a little kick/Instead you bought a broken heart." There's no middle ground in Jude Johnstone's songs: each one reflects the depths of a broken heart. On a Good Day is a powerful and emotional independent debut from a gifted songwriter and I hope it gets Jude Johnstone more notice (and work) in 2005.

Track List:

On A Good Day * 20 Years * Hard Lessons * Hold On * In This House * Old and Gray * Evelyn * Pen and Paper * Deep Water * Long Way Back * The Hereafter

© 2005 - Eric Steiner