Jamestown Revival Utah LP Vinyl

Recorded to tape in a log cabin in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah (so you know it's authentic), the debut album from childhood friends Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance (Jamestown Revival) offers up a big, bright, and mellifluous set of meticulously honed, radio-ready, country-folk confections that blend tight Everly/Avett Brothers harmonies with breezy west coast melodies that invoke names like the Lumineers, Blitzen Trapper, Band of Horses, and Belle Brigade. The Texas-bred, Los Angeles-based duo sound like the well-oiled machine that their shared history would indicate, and there's a refreshing sense of professionalism at work on the 11-track Utah that helps to elevate it above some of the more ramshackle, willfully lo-fi outings from other millennial folk revivalists. Clay and Chance may have been raised on Woody, Waylon, and Willie, but they've got enough pop acumen to suggest a steady diet of the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac as well, and songs like the churning "California (Cast Iron Soul)," the rowdy, juke joint-ready "Revival," and the expansive, classic rock-infused closer "Home," manage to feel both wild and willing to please. That said, Utah is hardly a bastion for wooly State Fair singalongs, as evidenced by the spare instrumentation and predilection for contemplative balladry in the classic Loggins & Messina style that occupies the majority of it's 44-minute runtime. Clay and Chance are first and foremost singer/songwriters, and while they may not have the forward-thinking panache of some of their contemporaries, they've got the voices to spin just about anything into gold. - James Christopher Monger.

1. Fur Coat Blues 2. California (Cast Iron Soul) 3. Golden Age 4. Wandering Man 5. Heavy Heart 6. Revival 7. Truth 8. Medicine 9. Headhunters 10. Time Is Gone 11. Home 12. California (Cast Iron Soul) (Cabin Mix)