Review: Jerry Falzone

Jerry Falzone - Just Before The Storm (Independent)
Jerry Falzone’s second album “Just Before The Storm” taps directly into the early 1970s country-rock tradition embodied by groups like Poco and New Riders of the Purple Sage, and songwriters Jackson Browne and JD Souther. It was, of course, The Eagles who found the most success, and opened up the genre to the world, though Gram Parsons and the Buffalo Springfield had done much to prepare the ground.

Falzone continues their work and recreates the sound and style of those groups and writers with considerable success. As with all country music, at whatever end of the spectrum, the song comes first, and that’s the approach taken here. He’s a songwriter with an effortless sense of time and space, and his words ebb and flow with calm windswept authority. His voice, part Roger McQuinn, part Steve Young, is a near perfect tool for the job, and his band are fully in sync with the concept.

For those interested in hearing about the highlights, there are a lot of fine songs, and performances to choose from. The title track opens the collection and sets the tone with a perfect harmony vocal on the chorus, while “Sweet Virginia” touches on death and its consequences. Set in a historical context, its poignancy never quite succumbs to melancholy. We also can’t ignore “Come Back Now” which features a duet with rockabilly legend Jerry Engler, and the sublime closing number “We Will Meet Again”.
http://www.jerryfalzone.com/home.html
Rob F.