Festival of Faith & Music Preview Reviews: Jan Krist

I will be attending Calvin College’s Festival of Faith & Music, March 31-April 2. Leading up to the festival, there will be a series of reviews of artists scheduled to appear as a preview of what to expect. Click on the icon for more information about the Festival.


A review isn’t much help if it compares one relatively unknown artist to another relatively unknown artist, but breaking that rule, Jan Krist sounds a lot like Right Lane Vacant on the song “Love How Did We Ever End Up Here?” In contrast to some of the other songs on Krist’s When Planets Collide, “Love How Did We Ever End Up Here?” sees her loosening up, hitting a stride with that guitar strumming, and sounding like Right Lane Vacant’s upbeat, acoustic jam.

OK, now that I got that one obscure reference out of the way, perhaps it’d be more helpful to say that overall Krist is like Carrie Newcomer—landing in the Country-influenced Rock section. Neither is purely Country, but rather puts Country in the Folk while infusing Swing, Jazz, and Blues lines throughout.

This Country Fusion shines on “Special Place in Heaven” which makes you want to dance while saying that there’ll be a place in heaven for all the wives of men who don’t dance. The wives get to dance; the men get to watch a game on TV.

Staying in that Country Swing feel, “Thump, Thump, Thump” picks its opening guitar line from Kenny Loggins’ “Footloose.” Intentionally or unintentionally, this recalls the “dance or not to dance” tension of “Special Place in Heaven.”

I am curious about Krist’s live show at the Festival, because she sounds gutsy at times, the guitar work is inspired when raised to the front. But her voice sounds over polished on the album. The title track which opens the CD smooths too many edges—over produced, sounding artificial. It will be good to know whether that is a product of the studio. Especially since the bonus acoustic mixes of three songs included on When Planets Collide would hints towards that rougher, more natural voice.

Thanks to Jan Krist for the review copy.