Brother JT
(Drag City)
How many guys could credibly play Terrastock and Little Stephen's Garage? Not many besides John Terlesky, AKA Brother JT. Here, on Jelly Roll Gospel, the visionary of Allentown straddles two, often separated worlds: garage rock and psychedelia. In a kind of "stone soup" approach to music making, Brother JT loads up the pot with every kind of roots music imaginable - blues, rock, R&B, soul, and reggae - then pulses it into a strange, mild-altering brew. His band, this time bassist Art DiFuria (of the Photon Band) and drummer Jamie Knerr (from Psyclone Rangers), are right there with him, pushing the limits of 1960s-influenced rock and soul. Classic rock tropes, a woozy 1960s organ, a sweltering Jimi-esque wah-wah guitar, a triumphant Sly and the whole damned Family Stone chorus are bent into fantastic new shapes. JT's music is familiar and deeply freaky at exactly the same time.
Consider the Stax-worthy bass line and gospel harmonized chorus of opener "Lift You Up", an untethered distillation of skanky Southern soul. Now listen to how it warps just out of true, as JT's self-harmonies take a bleary, church-pew-on-LSD liberties. Or consider the roots-rocking, blues-twanging "Bad Vibrations", as hard-liquor menacing as Spencer's Heavy Trash in its rockabilly guitar riff, but tabbed-out trippy in its wide-throttle chorus and spiraling guitar solo. Brother JT even dips into ska on the upbeat-happy "What You Make of It," bopping along on syncopated bass bumps and cheese-whiz keyboards.
Still, for deep, appealing bizarre-ness, you can hardly top "Do Ya Good," with JT scatting non-verbal flourishes over a solid gold blues line. "Ain't nothing wrong with that, bomp, bomp bom bom... a little bit this with that, fi-om, fi-om, fi-om, fi-om," slurs JT. It's so natural and unaffected that you have to wonder whether he's making it up as he goes along, caught up by the spirit of the tune. Yet you also suspect that his freedom comes from understanding all kinds of roots music from the inside out. You can't get this freaky without knowing what you're doing.
Standout Tracks: "Do Ya Good," "Bad Vibrations" JENNIFER KELLY
