Folk-influenced American Rock: Jars of Clay's Who We Are Instead

Jars of Clay say they wrote the music for their newest album, Who We Are Instead, after listening to a lot of Johnny Cash. Americana overtones do rise up over the Jars of Clay’s typical Folk-influenced American Rock sound at different times during the album. This keeps the album from blending back into the typical fare from this Christian band.

When Jars of Clay emerged with their debut, self-titled album, it hailed the entry of a new sound in the Christian music scene. The band used acoustic guitars laden with strings, keyboards, and programming. It was a more authentic, granola sound than found in most Christian bands in 1995.

However, Jars of Clay has been a bit trapped by that sound, having trouble letting something else rise to the top of each album, new directions to head in the Folk-influenced Rock land. Now, with even more Americana laid on top of Who We Are Instead, there’s hope to keep Jars of Clay from just repeating themselves.

“Amazing Grace” has a good, country-blues groove. “Trouble Is” has even a more blues-tinged approach; Johnny Cash remains in the background, but we’re also calling to mind great Gospel and Bluegrass. Here, though, it just isn’t a modern band trying to mimic; Jars of Clay takes this sound and add back in their programmed drum loops, leaving us with something clearly new.

The album also includes a cover of 1974’s “Lonely People,” a nice choice, given new meaning coming from a Gospel-centered band, finding our loneliness healed by knowing our Creator. However, the band then does suffer the problem of repeating itself when in “Faith, Enough” (written by Jars of Clay), it sounds like they took the melody line of “Lonely People” and transformed it into their own song. Unfortunately, when both are only 3 tracks apart, it sounds less like paying homage to a studio environment that keeps circling back to the same song.

Yet, given all of that, we do have new music with new tendencies. Americana is something that could be mined even more by Jars of Clay to great effect. One of the band’s strengths in the realm of Christian music is their ability to work with how we are broken, fragile, hurting, sinful. Their name, of course, calls attention to this, but their lyrics and arrangements have always explored this territory. In the world of praise bands and worship music, having Jars of Clay get listeners to face their sinfulness and need for a Savior is clearly something needed. Where others call us to approach God as if He is bettered by our attention, Jars of Clay helps us to realize that we’re made better by God’s salvation. Interestingly, I think this is also definitely Johnny Cash’s greatest contribution as the Man in Black.

Thanks to Jars of Clay and MSO for their help in getting a review copy to me.