College/Art Rock: Stone Jack Jones' Bluefolk

Stone Jack Jones plays psychedelic bluegrass. The imagery, meanderings, and poetry often come from similar territory as psychedelic rock, but the instrumentation and melodic influence come from Appalachia. On Bluefolk, at times you can hear the sounds of spoken word/speak-sing poetry of Jim Morrison, the recent darling Devendra Banhart, or the 60’s psychedelic folk of Simon Finn. Layered with this are some Daniel Lanois-like atmospheric guitars and incredibly lovely background vocals from guest Patty Griffin.

“Bread” kicks off with a drum machine beat, but Jones’ banjo makes this song more akin to Sufjan Stevens than a hip hop dance track. Said to be an anti-war song, you can follow the poetry to be about Abraham searching for his lost son. When Abraham says he’s looking for the “almost murdered one,” you might be thinking of Isaac whom Abraham almost sacrificed before God stepped in. However, the song actually seems to be about searching for Abraham’s other son, the runaway, Ishmael, said to be the father of the Muslims.

A song, a dream of reconciliation between Isaac and Ishmael, Jews and Muslims, the imagery actually borrows much from the New Testament. While the invitation to “eat my bread, drink my wine,” could be simply related to the importance of table fellowship in the Middle Eastern world, the echoes of Jesus at the Last Supper are unmistakable. Abraham is looking for his son who is “the beloved one,” “the almost murdered one,” “the light,” “blessed,” and “the mercy one.” There’s some parallels in those descriptions between Abraham’s son and Jesus, a son of Abraham who is the Messiah. Finally, “I’m bursting through the roof of love” recalls Jesus healing the paralytic who was let down from the roof by his friends.

In this borrowing of New Testament imagery to speak about reconciliation between Jews, Muslims, and the Western world’s intrusion into the Middle East, perhaps there’s a (un)intentional truth spoken in the way the poetry is crafted. The Gospel of Jesus is the message which will bring about peace, and at the very least, this song should remind Christians that we have the words of mercy which this world so desperately needs.

Bluefolk will be released on February 21.

Thank you to the Stone Jack Jones and Fictitious Records for the review copy.