Jonathan Something One More Lonesome Cowboy Song
Internal monologues – at best, they’re a way to sort out problems before they grow unmanageable. Ideally, they’ll also help deal with those less-than-charitable thoughts that don’t need to be verbalized in polite company. Unfortunately, that little “inside voice” can also sow doubt and work against one’s own best interests. Singer-songwriter Jonathan Searles, who records under the name Jonathan Something, has experienced a number of those doubts, including putting music aside for a bit, before realizing that the best way to dispose of that Doubting Jonathan was to rename him, then write him out of existence. One More Lonesome Cowboy Song is a musical exorcism of darkness and despair clothed in a cosmic country get-up.
One More Lonesome Cowboy Song leads off with “Country Rose,” an internal plea to slow down. Alongside a loping acoustic guitar rhythm, Searles sings of enjoying the big city hurly-burly – “Had fun having fun in New York City/But I was hung upon a country rose” – while wanting nothing more than to slow it all down. As Jonathan Something, Searles has done a genre tour (from folk to synthpop, with several stops in between), but all of that change and the hustling for a “big break,” may be hiding what he really needs – “Everybody knows/That peace and love don’t sell like rock and roll does.” The folky “Siren Song” continues the theme of chasing an illusion, to his detriment – “She crossed the road to Babylon/Leaving behind her siren song/To linger after she was gone.”
Searles leaned on his studio production side quest to record, produce, and play everything on One More Lonesome Cowboy Song – a gutsy call, if you think about it, given the influence of that negative “inner voice.” But the DIY gambit succeeds – Searles can seemingly play everything. “The Garden” is a lovely mix of guitar and piano, The otherwise-pensive “Gasoline” contains a tidy electric guitar solo of sorts, and “Before I Go” expands beyond double-tracked vocals to feature some truly gorgeous (self-) harmonies. Lyrically, Searles’s work toward self-improvement shows up strongest in “Gasoline,” an admittance of exhaustion – “But when I yelled into the void, I think I heard my own voice echo out to me/’You’ll never know if it was real or just a dream.’” This is when he issues a challenge to himself – “I divide the line between the mind and set the spirit free/To find the heart knows more than what the eye can see” – to expel that toxic inner voice. Album capper “Before I Go” bids a not-unkind goodbye to that interloper – “So won’t you roll just one more/Lonesome cowboy song” – before leaving him behind, hopefully never to be heard again.
Song I Can’t Wait to Hear Live: “Dancer in the Sky” – Perhaps the biggest-sounding track on the record, an intoxicating slow-build that also serves as a wake-up call – “Where the river rolls, the water plays a cold reminder.”
One More Lonesome Cowboy Song was produced, recorded and performed by Jonathan Searles. All songs written by Jonathan Searles.
Go here to order One More Lonesome Cowboy Song (out Oct. 16): https://us.officialmusicandmerch.com/collections/high-shelter-records/products/jonathan-something-one-more-lonesome-cowboy-song-lp
Check out tour dates here: https://www.jonathansomething.com/shows