The Voluntary Butler Scheme - A Million Ways to Make Gold

Nashville – The quirky collection of songs on A Million Ways to Make Gold comes out on March 24^th, just as spring is finally arriving. The album is from British-born Rob Jones who operates under the mouthful-of-a-moniker, The Voluntary Butler Scheme. His third album is sonically lush with its playful, brushed rhythms, splashes of bright brass, and even some xylophone for good measure. A Million Ways to Make Gold shines with sunny warmth and tinkling, danceable beats.

It’s a turn from The Voluntary Butler Scheme’s last album that went heavy on the electronics. On his new album, Jones has let his music geek flag fly. He taught himself trumpet, tenor sax, and baritone sax. “I learnt by watching clips on YouTube,” he divulged. “Even being able to play in a fairly rudimentary way, you can get great results if you can arrange it right.” In addition, he used homemade pedals and drum machines created in his home mini-studio. The resulting album is so light-hearted and infectious that Jones makes it seem easy to teach oneself a new class of instruments and build ones as well.

The airy, warm instruments are matched with whimsical, sometimes droll lyrics. On the infectious song “Brain Freeze,” Jones sings, “If I had the money, I’d park on double yellow lines. If I had the money, I’d drive in the bus lane.” More often, though, the lyrics show a bleak outlook.

“Quinzhee,” one of the album’s singles, calls to mind snowball fights and inexorable cheer with its falsetto harmonies and jingle bells. Hand-drawn animation by Graeme Maguire tells the story of a monster who has a snowy, happy ending. The lyrics, on the contrary, tell of a doomed relationship, the kind that torturously drags on.

Jones’s reimaging of Tom T. Hall’s country western, heartbreak ballad “That’s How I Got to Memphis” follows the album’s precedent of upbeat songs about pretty heavy stuff. The twangy throwback is an unexpected choice for Jones who’s British and assumedly hasn’t spent much time in Memphis. But Jones’s cover blends seamlessly with the rest of the record. He takes the song in a fresh direction of which Hall surely never dreamed.

A Million Ways to Make Gold is an album that can be appreciated for its feel-good simplicity as the days grow longer and warmer. But at the same time, it presents lyrics to unpack. The album is simultaneously cheerful, quirky, and emotionally deep.

The Voluntary Butler Scheme has some dates lined up in England including a couple shows in London. Keep up with him on Facebook and Twitter until he gets his website back in action.

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Caroline McDonald

My first memory is of singing Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” quietly to myself during preschool naptime. Perhaps it’s because I’m from Nashville where an instrument lives in every home, but music has gripped me for as long as I can remember.

After dabbling in many parts of the music industry—recording studios, PR, management, labels, publishing—I’m expanding into music journalism because I’m yet to find anything more rewarding that finding and sharing new music.

A longtime sucker for girls with guitars, my musical taste unabashedly follows the songwriting lineage of Dolly Parton and includes Patty Griffin, Gillian Welch, and Neko Case. But not to pigeonhole myself, my music love is big love that stretches from R.L. Burnside to Animal Collective to Lord Huron.

I’ve recently moved home to Nashville after living in Boston and Big Sur for several years. I’d forgotten how music pours onto the streets ten hours a day, seven days a week. I’m honored to share the creative explosion happening here. If your band is in the area or of the area, please reach out!