American Folk: Ellis Paul's American Jukebox Fables

Flynn, a singer/songwriter with an American Pop Rock sound (see review), has his fingerprints all over Ellis Paul’s latest album, American Jukebox Fables. As producer and almost-all-additional-parts contributor, Flynn lends a pop drum track along with synths and other parts that threaten to move Ellis Paul from American Folk to those Pop Rock realms. The album opens with “Blacktop Train” grooving on the rhythm of drum track and a keyboard loop. However, these seem to be soundtrack elements to Paul’s melodic film. “Blacktop Train” retains its blues folk quality thanks to Paul’s voice, guitar, songwriting, and a folk song structure that remains. Additional guitar and mandolin loops from Flynn further emphasize this side of things, while Rachael Davis’ wailing brings in Flynn’s R&B pop side.

It’s a tenuous collaborating, because in many ways, it feels like Flynn took Paul’s songs and laid them like a transparency over his own pop rock background. The tension threatens to pull apart the songs, such as on “Kiss the Sun” which feels like Paul’s singing a folk song over a disconnected, uninformed keys ‘n’ drum machine track.

However, American Jukebox Fables remains another strong release from Paul because of the fables—the stories Paul narrates. “Alice’s Champagne Place” is one of Paul’s stories that gets its narrative force from setting. It’s the story of traveling to Homer, Alaska, finding Alice pouring drinks in her bar which welcomes the stranger home. Elements of the setting—flying to Anchorage, a pickup ride, the midnight sun, the cannery, the strip on the Homer spit, and the bar’s window seat all contribute to the song’s ability to help the listener realize the importance of community. I didn’t go to Alice’s Champagne Place when I went to Homer, Alaska, but the song definitely invokes the place which holds people who will definitely open their doors to you.

Paul’s lyrics have always spoken with grace and truth, and whether Paul intends them to point to Jesus, I have found that I hear the Gospel in their questions and stories (see SongDevotions). As the home in “Home” burns down, the song realizes the incredible truth that a home is found with your spouse—not a physical building. Paul sings, “I can’t believe I’m thanking Jesus/as I watch my roof come down/But I can put back all the pieces/As long as you’re around.” “Kiss the Sun,” subtitled “(A Song for Pat Tillman),” doesn’t just celebrate the NFL player/soldier as a hero, but rather asks the tougher question about whether Tillman died in vain. In “Clarity,” a search for a father by Annie McGuire the daughter of a sixteen year old mother, Rose, leads to a prayer, “Lord, I need your charity/Won’t you sing me/A sweet old song/Your voice won’t lead me wrong/When you sing of truth/The truth will lift the haze/And the song will see me through to better days.”

For more of the American Folk tones of Ellis Paul, check out the independent release, Sweet Mistakes, a simpler recording of Paul’s growing catalog of songs. Tapping into the more intimate live folk show sound, Sweet Mistakes gives you a little more of the sense of the beauty of Paul’s voice, a beauty which can envelope you during a live show.

Thanks to Ellis Paul, Ralph Jaccodine/Black Wolf, Co-op Pop Records, and Philo/Rounder for the review copies.