REVIEW: Jefferson Berry and the Urban Acoustic Coalition Offer Up A Solid Collection of Folk Rock With “Double Deadbolt Logic”

With their new album Double Deadbolt Logic (Urban Acoustic Music), Jefferson Berry and the Urban Acoustic Coalition (UAC) deliver a solid mix of blues-tinged folk-rock songs that tell stories about everyday life that all of us can relate to quite easily.

Berry’s lyrics and a singular Neil Young cover song fill the record with songs that contain observations that celebrate normal “going-out” experiences, (“At the Festival” and “Get To The Shore”), that tell about the gritty reality of urban living  (“Shattered Glass”, “Locks and Guns”, and the aforementioned  Young cover “Crime in the City”), that cheerfully and wistfully remember the past (“She was Baking Bread” and “Ghosts Of California”) and that detail some of the difficulties of the human condition (“ Not Enough Time”, “Troubles With The Mood”, “I Know What I Know”, “Everyone’s Got Their Stuff” and “Rendezvous With Destiny”).

While all of these songs are strong compositions, it is “At The Festival” and “Get To the Shore”, the two songs that are about simply having fun and relaxing, which shine especially bright right now during our widespread national quarantine and apprehensive reopening of segments of our society. 

Together these two songs make those pre-coronavirus pandemic moments that they describe and equivalent ones like them in our own lives seem all the more precious than they were when first experienced.

Both have wonderful opening verses with “At The Festival” starting with these wonderful lyrics:  ” Out in the field where we played all night / out on the horizon early morning light / Everyone came with what they had been working on /Beautiful arrangements, interesting songs/ Ladies with ukuleles and babies now all grown singing songs of their own “.

And “Get To The Shore” beginning with the equally pleasing: “Just out of town on the bridge, you fell asleep/ In the glow of the console, I’m driving us to the beach  / We’re not alone on this mission, it’s Friday night, everyone’s going fishing, wishing for nothing more, but to get to the shore”.

Both songs serve to highlight the fact that with Double Deadbolt Logic, Jefferson Berry and The UAC have created an enjoyable listening experience that will have you singing along with the songs after just a few listens, which during these crazy times that we are all living through, is a distinctly laudable feat.

Double Deadbolt Logic by Jefferson Berry and the UAC will be available on May 22nd on their website .

Credits: Jefferson Berry – Acoustic Guitar, Vocals, Bud Burroughs -Mandolin, Piano, Hammond C3, Uncle Mike Damora, -JC Signature Epiphone Bass, Rickenbacker Bass, Hofner Bass, Billy Hyatt- Fender Precision Bass, Dean McNulty – Fender Jazz Bass, Matt Muir -Percussion, Drums, Handclaps, Daoud Shaw -Drums, David Rapoport -Drums, Dave Brown – Lap Steel, Electric Guitar, Yamaha RBX Fretless Bass, Bottleneck Stratocaster, Banjo, Peter Farrell – Piano, Marky B! Berkowitz – Blues and Chromatic Harmonicas, Harmonica, Jan Alba – Flute, Irene Lambrou -Vocals, Briana Berry – Vocals, Michelle Armour – Vocals, Emily Drinker – Vocals, Deborah Stern – Vocals, Produced by Jefferson Berry, Recorded by Matt Muir at Kawari Studios, Wyncote PA, Mastered at Taloowa by Chris Muth