Jam Band: Johnny J. Blair's Treadmarks

Track 1 brings Hamell on Trial to mind—acoustic, steely-stringed guitar punk with charged energy. Track 2 brings Keller Williams to mind—R&B folk, sampled loops, and some scat singing thrown in. Track 3 brings Kelly Joe Phelps to mind—acoustic steel guitar with a Dobro chime style. This is Johnny J. Blair and his new “plucked live from the air” album, Treadmarks.

Blair is known to be enthusiastically devoted to guitar pop, but when press releases throw out names like the Beatles, Ray Davies, and Brian Wilson, you might just get the wrong impression. Oh, there are hints of classic pop rock all over the place, but that would ignore the acoustic, folk, singer/songwriter, and punk elements. While there’s some immediacy in those classic recordings, we’ve heard them so much that we’ve forgotten that you can hear the buzz of amps and studio asides on the Kinks or the Beatles records. With Johnny J. Blair, there’s no missing the immediacy. You could be in the coffeehouse with him; you could be in that small club down on the corner. Blair’s belting out the tunes like he’s filling a concert hall, but you’re right next to him.

Meanwhile, Blair’s sending up some incredibly compelling songs about the Christian faith. “Somebody Loves You (Like Dino Said)” reaches out with the salt and light of the Christian life, reaching out to a guy about to jump off a bridge. “The Sky Cries” takes the words of Jesus in Matthew 5 (“For [God] makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust,” ESV) to create a beautiful piece of poetry and melody. I once wondered where all of the Christian folk singers had gone (see review of Steven Delopoulos). Blair is the answer.

With clever craft on “Sam Said,” Blair writes about Sam Cooke using Cooke’s own lyrics for a portion of a song that tells Cooke’s story. The melody itself plays on “Cupid.” Like Cooke, Blair is walking the line between secular and Christian, popular music and Gospel. While I know some rejected Cooke for his crossover success, many rooted for Sam Cooke. I’m rooting for Blair—to sing out the faith, to make music with feet in both worlds.

Blair is listed as Jam Band to place him next Keller Williams.

By the way, Johnny J. Blair fist came to my attention with his contribution to Wampus’ After Hours: A Tribute to the Music of Lou Reed. This collection of covers by relatively unknown artists shines despite its nighttime title and the night-haunting Reed. Johnny J. Blair and the Cellarbirds evoke the idyllic paranoia on “Sunday Morning.”

Thanks to Johnny J. Blair and Wampus Multimedia for the review CD.