PAUL EDELMAN & THE JANGLING SPARROWS
North American & Susquehanna (self-released)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

---

Paul Edelman is a familiar figure on the Philadelphia music scene, playing guitar, bass and banjo in a variety of the town's better known bands and organizing open mikes, all the while saving up songs for this, his first full length release fronting his own band. These were songs well worth saving, and now that he's got them together, recorded and released, well, they're well worth listening to.

Whether it's a musical tribute to Abraham Lincoln, the lament of a Civil War soldier or a wistful memory of his childhood home, Edelman infuses every song with a classic feeling that really transcends most of the music that falls under the heading 'Americana' these days. This is really folk music in a deeper sense than that kind of commercial tag implies - at his root, Edelman has a lot more in common with Woody Guthrie than with your average country rocker. These are songs you might have heard 50 years ago, and songs you're likely to want to hear 50 years from now.

Edelman's voice has a timeless quality that reinforces the nature of the songs. He, too, could have performed in any number of eras without much adjustment to his approach. The band may have been assembled just for this project or not - I'm uncertain. If so, their work is all the more impressive. They play together like longtime collaborators. My best guess is that they're all at least friends who've played in various combinations over time.

In any event, they provide the perfect backdrop for Edelman's musical stories, helping him to create a close to perfect slice of contemporary American folk music.

Track List:

Ode To An Illinois Lawyer * Lead Me Out * When It's Gone * Letter In The Dirt * Thumb Me Down * Bayview Dock * Names Of The Trains * Graveyard 76 * Like September * The Deacon And The Lighthouse Keeper

[Pick this up at CDBaby.]

© 2004 - Shaun Dale