The Bones of J.R. Jones

Brooklyn – On the rare and glorious occasion that a musician can capture the brunt of our attention and win our affection as quickly as an expert outdoorsman reels in a river trout, the music maker deserves an outpouring of recognition. Typically, musicians flying just under the cusp of widespread appreciation see their discographies mount before they see their fan base swell extensively. Truth be told, all it took was one homespun video to sell us on this act.

Proudly reporting on The Bones of J.R. Jones, Jonathon Linaberry is a one-man band well worth your time. This music maker dominates a wide variety of instrumentation to create the crooning, folk atmospheres that built the bulk of his work. Channeling the spindly grit at the heart of blues, Linaberry’s work is classically soulful. Bathed in a thumping pulse, his tracks revive classic American genres with a weighty, evocative darkness.

“Hearts Racing” is the video that will get you on board with this band at breakneck speed. Recorded and produced by Spindle Room, the production and performance space that serves and showcases Brooklyn, it is an intimate cut that highlights Linaberry’s humble showmanship. A back porch in Brooklyn, clutter-strewn with mismatched furniture, is our first glimpse of Linaberry and the track plays out in a dusty showroom. The unpretentious atmospheres, pitted against Linaberry’s commanding and graceful vocalizing, perfectly juxtapose the competing grandeur and quiet grace that marks the spirit of this act.

Linaberry’s first full-length album, Dark Was The Yearling, is scheduled for release on May 20^th and comes in the wake of 2012’s “The Wildness EP.” An intricate and calmly ebbing collection of tracks, the record gives way to dust blown mentalities and ruminant, vintage styled folk. Spanning 12 songs, the album takes listeners on meditative journey into Linaberry’s singular styling’s, peppered with electric guitar riffs, banjo picking and accomplished acoustic harmonizing. The work in full emerges as an epic showcase of a musician on the rise, and one who has clearly carved out time and drive to hone his craft.

Linaberry’s love of folk and blues took root at an early age, when his father gifted him a collection of albums entitled “American Roots Music.” Raised in upstate New York, we can almost see the way natural vistas and classically rural American landscapes informed his songwriting. Of his trajectory and what he sees lurking at the heart of old-time folk and blues, Linaberry explains he found something endlessly precious within the genre, “Something that you care for.”

“For me my biggest fear with doing a one-man band is it would become a gimmick,” he mused, “I’ve put those reservations aside and fully embraced it.” Lucky for us Linaberry is willing to go the distance solo, and fingers crossed he stays the way. Full of heart and brimming with a depth of thought that escapes far too many acts, this is a valuable band. Already, Linaberry had toured a fair amount since the turn of the New Year, including appearances at SXSW, and is rapidly adding dates to support his forthcoming record. While we wait, we can curl up to and revel in the recorded work to date, and get amped for May’s release.

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Liz Rowley

Born in Mexico and raised in Toronto, Jerusalem and Chicago by a pair of journalists, Liz comes to BestNewBands.com with an inherited love of writing. After discovering a niche for herself in music journalism and radio while at Bates College in Maine, she always keeps a running playlist of new music to soundtrack her place in the world. Liz is passionate about helping dedicated, talented musicians gain the exposure they deserve. A recent transplant to Brooklyn from Hawaii, she is plagued by an incurable case of wanderlust and cursed with an affinity for old maps and old things like typewriters and vintage books. She adores photography and running and is very good with plants. Having come of age in Chicago, Wilco speaks to her soul. If she could be anything, she would be a cat in a Murakami novel.