American Folk: John Wesley Harding's Adam's Apple

I feel like there are two John Wesley Hardings. Oh, I suppose, if you include the original, gun-toting robber, then there are three John Wesley Hardings. What I mean, though, is that there are two John Wesley Hardings today, the folk-rock singer from Sussex, UK, now based in San Francisco. Harding has his official, full band, full production, “modern rock radio” albums, like 2004’s Adam’s Apple, but then he also has his unofficial, independently released, folky, odds-and-sods, “more like his solo show” albums. Harding is wonderful for his quick wit, self-deprecating humor, catchy songs, and ability to take oblique references and unlock the listener’s self-reflection. However, the “modern rock radio” albums take some of the piss out of his songs.


Go to Harding’s Website and join the RSPCJWH (Royal Society for the Preservation and Care of John Wesley Harding). Pick up a copy of Dynablob which features the stripped down sound, the folk singer in the spotlight, a recording where you can hear Harding’s ironic smile, wink, and nod on those comedic, very telling lines.
Pick up a copy of Dynablob 3: 26th March 1999, live at the Freight & Salvage, one of the greatest live folk recordings ever. (Of course, I’m extremely biased, because I was there in Berkeley, California, with “Ellis Paul and John Wesley Harding at the Freight & Salvage for the return of the great gangsta folk scare blues!”). Those albums self-released on Harding’s Way Out Wes label put you inside an intimate world, a very self-aware folk circle able to laugh at the eccentricities and contradictions of the scene. That’s where it is easy to hear Harding’s dream of playing for the great troubadours of the past on his song, “Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Steve Goodman, David Blue, and Me.”

It is much harder to hear that Harding on Adam’s Apple. The songs still contain signature humor and hooks. Yet, the self-aware folk singer is lost in the production, the “modern rock radio” style. Keyboards, loops, background vocals, doubled-lead vocals serve to smooth out Harding’s quirkiness. The long phrases, held out notes, and strings make the turn of phrase bland. In this vein, Harding sounds like Elvis Costello who has dabbled so much in Bacharach, Broadway musical sounds that it’s hard to find that new wave, take-on-the-world energy anymore.

When I saw Harding at the Freight & Salvage (again, purchase Dynablob 3), I hadn’t heard his 1997 album, Awake, an album that falls in the “modern rock radio” camp. In concert, the songs from Awake rang with truth, humor, and the six-string bard sound of the Way Out Wes material. On the album, though, again most of the accompaniment lines are drawn out, painting these broad aural strokes over what should shake, stutter, and hesitate with each knowing phrase.


An exception to this is the 1999 album, Trad Arr Jones, which is a nod to Harding’s forefather, Nic Jones. Harding turns in a wonderful tribute to this folk hero. Jones took many traditional tunes from the British Isles and arranged them for his fiddle and guitar (hence the title, Trad Arr Jones meaning “Traditional, arranged by Jones”). This album celebrates folk tradition while also making these tunes and tales of kings, princes, paupers, fortune, murder, and the seven seas speak to the present day.

For most of the songs on Adam’s Apple, I’m waiting to hear them live, to hear them in the gangsta folk style. However, there’s a few tracks that jump out immediately, breaking from the “modern rock radio” shackles. “Monkey and His Cat” jams like a Squeeze vamp while updating “The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.” Out of Harding’s strange world, there’s a revelation about our interconnectedness, our false independence, our obsessions, and perhaps our delusions. You might think it is “The Last Train to Clarksville,” but Harding’s “Sluts” only borrows a similar guitar line to begin. It quickly breaks down into a funky, punky strut throwing the net far and wide about how we’re all sluts, gluttons, selling ourselves for the sake of our wants, “always just beyond our means.” Finally, there’s “Protest Protest Protest,” with its throwback mix of 70’s and 80’s keyboards over Harding’s protest song against protests. Ah, there’s the self-aware folk singer that we paid to see (I mean, donated money to support!).

Thanks to John Wesley Harding and DRT Entertainment for the review CD.