Clancy Jones – Rise With the Sun
Out May 10, is a new EP by Oklahoma/Texas soulful badass, Clancy Jones, Rise With the Sun. These three new tunes are songs that dig deep down to his working man roots. The lyrics speak of struggles and regret, hard times and hard land, and fighting battles you’re tired of fighting, but getting up and doing it all over again day after day. They are an homage to calloused hands and sweat-stained overalls, tinged with the sunrise of a new day and the steam rising from a fresh pot of coffee.
Rise With the Sun follows Jones’ debut release last May, the seven-song Found My Way, which featured the catchy “Blacktop Bound.”
Jones’ voice sounds both familiar and unique at the same time. His songwriting comes with an authenticity that says he has lived the life and earned the right to write about it. His voice is steeped in the blues, with a bit of honky tonk-tinged country and rock and roll hell-raiser thrown in.
“Round and Round” offers up some beautiful songwriting about a tale of regret and lost chances and of watching time and maybe life pass you by.
The refrain features the haunting image of white tree bones rattling outside the window while an old man looks out and ponders his life’s choices. “Winter is coming on and all the leaves are gone / The wind howls and shakes their wooden bones / Should’ve left here years ago but it’s hard to do when time moves slow a round and a round we go.”
“I’d be Lying,” is an ode to bad habits and times gone by, with a catchy, dance-hall country twang beat. “No Rain” is slower, deeper, more soulful and bluesy, sung in Jones’ Texas Gulf Coast-Oklahoma drawl: “These ol’ tears drown the pain / And these dark clouds oh they hang / I don’t need any more rain /Like I said before I don’t need any more.”
And a sweet guitar solo that is right up there with some of the greats.
Once again, the only thing lacking with these three songs is that there are only three of them. Jones’ voice has a comforting quality, even when he sings of pain. The lyrics dig deep and touch a chord with every person who has ever had to work too hard for a livin’.
At the end of a long week or day, kick back, pour yourself a drink, and sit back and have a listen.
Jones is playing a few dates in Texas in early June and one on April 6 in Rancho Cordova, CA with Ben Nichols. Get yourself to a show.
Dates and downloads here: https://ffm.to/dkzopvx and at: https://clancyjones.com/
Enjoy our previous coverage here: REVIEW: Clancy Jones “Found My Way”
