Jacob Panic - Pop-Grass
First off, if you dig the folkish Americana of bands such as
Mumford and Sons and the Avett Brothers, stop reading and
purchase this CD.
Jacob Panic’s second album Pop-Grass opens with the
fantastic “Hold Your Freight Train” and the album title describes exactly what
you’re going to get. Not exactly pop,
but not exactly bluegrass either. Panic plays all the instruments on this
acoustic album, but the real standout instrument is the banjo, which he is seen
with on the cover. He is a very skilled banjo player, having won The Stelling
Banjo Scholarship to Pete Wernick’s Advanced Banjo Camp back in 2012. The disc
contains 13 songs, all original compositions with the exception of
Leiber/Stoller’s classic “Ruby Baby,” which came about after Dion himself
happened to be wandering through Fell’s Point and heard Jacob Panic covering
the song (and ended up staying for the whole set). This is a tribute of sorts, as Dion recorded the hit version in 1962, peaking at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
For those more interested in the bluegrass aspects of the
album, check out “Mason Dixon Woman,” “More Than Me,” and “Come Around.” For
those who are more into pop, check out “Stop Breaking My Heart” and “One Of
These Days,” but don’t get me wrong, you can also hear the bluegrass influence
loud and clear. For the perfect blend of both, look no further than “Jenny
Cline,” which happens to be one of the standout cuts on this disc. “Wax On Ice”
is probably my favorite track on the album and it also happens to be the angriest sounding banjo song that I
have personally heard. It oozes the vitriol of a young Elvis Costello without
reminding me of him in anyway except attitude.
This album was my introduction to Jacob Panic, but I will
definitely be backtracking and checking out his debut album. Even though I have
not heard the debut, I think it is safe to say that there was no sophomore
slump. Panic is a great singer/songwriter and a talented multi-instrumentalist.
This is just a solid disc from start to finish. Highly Recommended.
You can find Jacob Panic on the web at:
Bandcamp (Stream the entire album here!)
Or you can purchase a physical copy of Pop-Grass at Trax On Wax!
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