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 Bird Bones & Muscle #7 on Euro Americana Charts for July 2010 #15 on F.A.R. Chart for May 2010 #38 on the Folk Music Radio Chart for May 2010 Hanging tough on the AMA Americana Radio charts “Shogren, J – “Bird Bones & Muscle” (JAHA!) A- ...... A combination of oddities…this man, a professor of philosophy and past King of Sweden’s special professor on environmental science, Shogren lives half-time in Sweden, and the rest in Wyoming, where he put together this amazing rootsy band, sporting tunes from “Weird old America.” Cool stuff…he plays resonator, mandolin, and sings with people on accordion, yodeling and banjo…barbershop quartet stylings in a modern setting. Who would have guessed? Acoustic, eclectic, intelligent lyrics and fun. “Recalling everything from Dylan to Dr. John, Buck Owens to Tom Waits, Shogrun explains, ‘No veneer—just a coat of varnish to keep out the weather’.” Original.” - Cathi @ WFHB Bloomington “ Last year, I reviewed J Shogren’s last album, American Holly, and I talked about his wild imagination. More recently, I kicked off my Americana Festival with Jalan Crossland‘s latest album. I found Crossland in the first place because J Shogren told me they were working together. Bird Bones & Muscle is the result of that partnership. To me, the album feels like two very talented musicians feeling their way until they found what works for them as musical partners. Bird Bones and Muscle begins as a rock record. Burnt Fields begins with a figure on electric guitar, and soon the whole band tears into this blues tinged number. It sounds some what like the heartland rock of John Mellencamp, around the time of the Scarecrow album. But wait, one of those electric guitars sounds odd… That’s a banjo! Yes it is, and Crossland gets it to do some things I’ve never heard before. Blues and rock banjo are new to me, but they work. Three more up tempo rockers follow, and the last of these, Loving Time, is also the weakest. The lyric is skeletal, and the song sounds like a band rocking just to rock. There’s not really anything wrong with that, but American Holly led me to expect more here. And then the next song started, and I got more. Big Blue Bird of Happiness is the first ballad on the album. The lyrics present unrequited love in an original way, and the music has subtle touches that add to its beauty. From here on, we are in good hands. Paper Barn is a declaration of love that promises that dreaming together can make it true. The song has a spare arrangement that does everything it needs to with just acoustic guitar and a few elements for flavor. My Remedy is another declaration of love, this set to a slinky blues groove. Later, there is Polkagris, an actual polka, where Shogren’s sense of humor sneaks out for a moment. This one sounds like it was a blast to record, which also makes it a treat for the listener. And there are two songs, Wandering Foot, and Judge & the Hangman, which are ballads in the old sense that they tell stories. Wandering Foot is the tale of a man who sacrificed his family for an ill-advised affair, and had cause to regret it. This may be Shogren’s most emotional vocal on the album, and the song is totally convincing as a result. Judge & the Hangman is a powerful evocation of the Old West, something Shogren does very well indeed. I mentioned the four rockers that start the album. Each has its merits, but I found the block of them a bit much. Indeed, there are more up tempo numbers as the album progresses, and they sound better. So I think it might have sufficed to sequence the album differently. On their own, I can certainly recommend Charlie Poole, Charlie Poole and Salvation especially. So I don’t know if Shogren and Crossland intend to continue working together, but I would like to hear the results if they do. In any case, I hope to have for you whatever each of them chooses to do next. One more quibble if I may: there is a female vocalist on Bird Bones and Muscle, who adds some wonderful harmony, and whose work really makes a difference on several songs. J Shogren only lists his musicians by first initial and last name, so I don’t know who she is. If I find out, I will let you know. Update: I heard back from J Shogren, and he tells me that the background singer is Mandy Bohlender. She is in a band called The Free Range Band; I don't believe that they have recorded anything for release yet, and when they do, they will need a name change. There is already another band out there by that name.” - Oliver di Place “Americana Roots – Singer/Songwriter J Shogren: American Holly 2008 JAHA! Records, independent release – www.jshogren.com A rare and talented philosopher and balladeer with dust in his cuffs and dirt under his nails, J Shogren kicks right into gear with his powerful delivery. There are more than a few lyrical broken hearts between the covers of American Holly that may have been treated with a bottle of whiskey, salve and painted blue. Listen to Everyman and see what you think. Holes takes a humorously twisted look at a relationship that may not be working out so well and seems to continue past the point of sensible thinking. Delightfully satirical, Hand Grenade uses the power of a gospel song to deliver a strong message while maintaining a light-hearted cadence. Deny Me goes right to the gut lyrically with the cry of a resonator, tasteful guitar and gentle rhythm serving as a melancholy wash for Shogren’s gritty vocals to reside upon. There seems to be a narrative style to the arrangement and order of songs giving American Holly a defined story line that adds depth to the overall production. There is a thoughtfulness that becomes more clear each time you listen to this recording. I find the finger-style guitar work in Well Fed Man a delight to listen to. Equally as intriguing though completely different conceptually, Split Whiskey pours right out of Shogren’s heart. There are so many words and double meanings in Relativity your ears have to work very hard to take it all in. Baby on the Tracks leading into God’s 9:05 is another masterful piece of prose backed with colorful, intricate instrumentation that really builds as it carries the story along. JJ Polka is somewhat unexpected. Shogren continues to surprise and captivate, putting his all into this recording. It seems to have been well worth his sweat and efforts. [Nancy Vivolo]” - Victory Reviews “ J Shogren American Holly
"We receive more and more of the finest of popular music from the United States. This J Shogren is no other than Jason Shogren, that is to say, someone very highly respected at the University of Wyoming, a professor whom the king of Sweden have recently chosen to be the special professor of environmental science. He was also a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change who shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore in 2007. Wow! (Maybe this makes you wanna say that, in France, we have the girlfriend of the President of the Republic making songs... Well...) And what about his music, then? Quite entertaining, shamelessly going from blues to polka while passing through folk and good old rock'n'roll: 17 songs composed by Jason himself. The album is produced in collaboration with Dan Tinker, present also with a number of instruments. And regarding the voice, at first, the fact that it's on the verge of being out of tune, seems a little distracting, but very soon you come to appreciate the authentic tone, and the roughness. It's a refreshing album, completely beyond styles and trends."
- - Jean-Jacques Corrio / Le Cri Du Coyote Magazine - “GREEN Man Review
Right off the beam, let me tell you that country music isn't dead. Maybe I shouldn't call these fellows country music though. Let's just describe them as two new discs of acoustic roots music. That's what J Shogren calls it on his Web site. Can't call it Americana since he splits his time between Wyoming and Sweden. He was the King of Sweden's professor for a time! He was a member of a group that received a Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. He worked as a trapper, too. He's not your standard ranch stash at all. He sounds a bit like Kris Kristofferson, both vocally and in the lackadaisical pace of his album. Shogren plays guitars, tenor banjo, mandolin, etc. (the "etc." could mean anything; I just copied it from the liner notes). All the other musicians (and there are 17 of them) add voice, vocal, hubbub, and a variety of instruments. It's all pretty string band based, except for trombone, euphonium and jug, and drums. The songs sound like they might have originated in the Ozarks in the '30s, but in fact, J Shogren wrote most of them himself. "I'll be a depth charge for God, gonna thump the devil, don't you cry for me," is an example of the kind of lyrical concern he deals with. A sampling of titles might give you an idea. "Everyman," "Salt lakrits," "Holes," "Deny me," "God's 9:05," and "Hardwood floor." And that's what they're about, too! None of the musicians have first names, just initials, like J or B or S. No punctuation either. They all play tolerably well, and make sense out of the tunes. I like it. It doesn't even have to grow on you...it sounds good from the get-go. ”- David Kidney “J Shogren, American Holly (JAHA!, 2008) Split the difference between Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan, and while you won't have everything you need to know about J Shogren (no period after the initial, I gather), you will have at least a place to start. Shogren -- who even bears a vague physical resemblance to him -- has Cohen's mordant wit. Cohen could have written lines such as "Every man's Aristotle when he's drunk" and "I'll be a hand grenade for Jesus." Shogren, too, has a foot in the soil of traditional American music, sharing ground with Dylan. Like Dylan, he writes his own songs even as he nods to or winks at others. Here it's old songs like "John Henry," "Keep the Skillet Good & Greasy" and -- wonderfully -- "My Name is John Johnson."
Though endearingly odd, it is also not a little disorienting. A part of that owes to the distinctive production, bringing to psychic eye and ear the sepia tones, in the first instance, of 19th-century American-village photography and, in the second, of the small-town folk orchestras so often captured in those pictures. Or this could be a lost America in a parallel universe. If Shogren and his band summon up ghosts, they are not necessarily of persons once extant in the earthly flesh. The powerful opening cut, also the title song, is set in a war-ravaged landscape that one at first presumes to be a Civil War battlefield but whose geography and circumstance become ever less fixed, notwithstanding the singer's repeated, insistent reference to "American Holly." A woman? Something else? A warning to those seeking easy pleasures: In some ways Shogren's recording is a demanding one, not always suited to casual listening. At 17 cuts this is, in my estimation anyway, three or four too long. Still, even the occasional slow patch rewards the patient pilgrim, and it helps if you keep in mind that Shogren is far more the professor than the trapper. His vision of a frontier world is a metaphysical, not a physical, one, where the familiar always manages to stay just out of focus. Shogren takes a host of recognizable images and influences and turns them deeply strange. ”- Jerome Clark “ Jason Sjögren från Wyoming, SwedenHade ingen aning om vem J Shogren var när jag hörde debutalbumet ”Jahamericana”. Min första tanke: Vilken Michael Hurley-känsla! Sen försökte jag placera honom i geografin. Country men ändå inte. Liksom mer jordnära country. Lite nybyggarkänsla. Det lät kargt, som från ett kallare, mer snöigt landskap. Kom han från Minnesota eller Montana, Nebraska eller Wyoming?
Både ”Jahamericana” och J Shogrens andra album, ”American Holly”, spelades in i Laramie, Wyoming. Nu vet jag också att förnamnet är Jason och Shogren en amerikanisering av Sjögren. Några generationer bakåt utvandrade släkten till USA och Jason växte upp i Duluth, Minnesota. (Själv säger han att förebilden som sångpoet är Bob Dylan!) Han har varit trapper men är idag universitetsprofessor och har just nu en gästprofessur i miljövetenskap vid Umeå universitet.
J Shogrens sångpoesi, sång och gitarrspel blir som ett soundtrack of his life. Country, folksång, rock och lite blues blandas i ojämna portioner, mer av det ena och mer av det andra. På ”Jahamericana” låter det som om Shogren steg in i studion med sin gitarr och några kompisar på mandolin, bas, piano, dragspel, trummor och cello. Han visade hur låten gick, vilka ackord den har, och så körde dom. Varje låt fick den form som den råkade få.
Bara några favoriter: elektriska, countrybluesrockiga ”Lovers Lane Boogie”, likaså countryaktiga men långsamma, berättande ”Me & Ghengis Khan” och gitarrplockiga, mjukt stämnings- och längtansfulla instrumentallåten ”Helgagatan”.
Uppföljaren, ”American Holly”, är – nästan – samma sak. Mer proffsig inspelning, mer planerat och arrangerat. Efter debutens vildvuxna skog av låtar kändes andraalbumet som lite tamare, kanske mer anpassat till möjliga lyssnare? Först, vill säga. Efter bara någon lyssning hördes och kändes det igen: det omedelbara och spontana i J Shogrens sångdiktande och musicerande.
Kalla det charm eller personlighet, låtar som bluesvarianten ”Salt Lakrits”, gospeln ”Handgranade For Jesus” och ragtimejazziga ”Holes” är omöjliga att inte placera längst in i sitt – alltså mitt – hjärta. Några sista ord om rösten: J Shogren sjunger som de timmerstockar med årsringar som syns på omslaget till ”Jahamericana”. ”- Erikssons kultursidor “Abbiamo già parlato di J Shogren, professore di Natural Resource Conservation & Management presso l’Università del Wyoming e cantautore per passione, quando recensimmo il suo disco di debutto, Jahamericana due anni fa circa. Ciò che ci aveva colpito era stata non solo la sua vita divisa tra gli States e la Svezia dove compie i suoi studi sui cambiamenti climatici, tra l’attività universitaria e la musica, ma anche il suo innato talento compositivo. American Holly, è il suo secondo disco e rispetto al disco di debutto svela una maggiore solidità tanto a livello compositivo quant’anche a livello di arrangiamenti. Shogren ora sembra più conscio del suo talento e soprattutto, grazie al co-produttore D Tinker, è riuscito a radunare intorno a se un gruppo di musicisti eccellenti come Sally van Meter alla chitarra resonato, Jalan Crossland al banjo, Shaun Kelly al basso, e la bravissima cantante Birgit Burke ai backing vocals. Il disco mette in fila diciassette brani di ottima fattura, caratterizzati da un songwriting maturo e da un sound ben delineato a metà strada tra roots music e cantautorato. Ad aprire il disco è la title track un brano con potenzialità da singolo che apre la strada alle splendide Early In The Evening e Everyman, il disco entra nel vivo grazie alla potenza espressiva di brani come Hand Grenade ” (I’ll be a hand grenade for Jesus / And spread His word like shrapnel) e della successiva Love (The holes in my head fit the bumps in hers), i cui testi brillano per un eccellente scrittura. I due vertici del disco sono rappresentati prima da Relativity in cui Shogren canta della famosa teoria scientifica della relatività e dalla torrenziale God che ci conduce attraverso nove minuti di grande musica a metà strada tra John Henry e Casey Jones. Alla fine poco importa se a tratti Shogren tenti di misurarsi con lo stile di Randy Newman, ciò che importa è che questo disco è un piccolo esempio di grande ” - Salvatore Esposito “J. SHOGREN has a voice that’s a bit gravely and rough-hewn. Americana can absorb that if the songs hold up, and on “American Holly” (Jaha!, c/o jshogren.com), they do just that. The opener, the album’s title cut, is obviously meant to be the “single,” but it was the third cut, “Everyman,” that caught my “ear.” As the CD glides along, it really started to reach me. The songs are catchy in a folky singer-songwriter pop kind of way, with melody lines that stay with the listener. There is really nice horn work here, like where they counterpoint with the banjo in “Holes.” Another piece that caught my attention was a sort of revisioning of “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition” with the biting “Hand Grenade” (“I’ll be a hand grenade for Jesus / And spread His word like shrapnel”). It is also amusing (or can be seen as such) that a “women is bad” song like “Relativity” is followed by the romantic “She’s With Me.” While many of his songs are poignant, it is his closing number that touched me the most in my life right now, “Come All This Way.” The Quiet Corner by Robert Barry Francos, http://www.jerseybeat.com/quietcorner.html” - The Quiet Corner by Robert Barry Francos “There are two other times I can remember when a singer’s voice prompted in me the same reaction I had when I first heard J Shogren’s. Those were when I first heard Randy Newman and Leon Redbone. I had to keep looking at the album cover to assure myself that the singer was indeed white. Shogren’s voice sounds like one of those great bluesmen from ninety years ago.” - Oliver di Place, Feb 2009 “Brilliant storyteller from Wyoming. Hard Boiled, sometimes dark humorous stories delivered with a voice that clearly have lived through them.” - Lennart Persson, Rootsy “What sets us apart is a "very honest and driving, in rhythm and attitude, essentially positive. It cheers you up without being silly. I find it cool, at times brilliant, fun and funny, a combination of serious and amusing. The guitarplaying is great, with lots of variation and personal touch, and so is the working on the songs. It is a good mixture between driving rhythm and more calm songs. As with many other artists, you find the same kind of rhythm in the different songs returning, but there is nothing wrong with that, it's only familiar and nice. Makes you wanna dance. The songs are mature, because the man who composed them is mature; he's not a kid who, no matter how brilliant he may be, can't get away from his immaturity. The album is cozy, perfect for a car trip or for being played over and over again, weekend after weekend, on a local pub somewhere in Wyoming. Many lines get stuck in your head (and so do the riffs). He comes some: "Dancing drinking and crying, lonesome lovesick and blue, smoking laughing and lying, to myself, the world and to you" found the keys to life my friend but I dropped them underneath my bar stool, "oh Lord, why did you give so many so few?", "if it's good enough for you, it's good enough for me." At times I think the songs deserve a better recording, but they still come along great. Sometimes the whole thing reminds me - I don't know why - of a great street band, unknown, unrecorded, but oh so great. There is something classical about this album.” - Lars Erikson “J. Shogren ist mit "Jahamericana" ein tolles Kleinod gelungen, welches sich immer dann lohnt zu hören, wenn man 'ganz nah' an der Musik sein will. J. Shogren's "Jahamericana" a great treasure succeeded, which is always worthwhile to hear if you want to be 'very close' to the music.” - U Heiser - RockTimes “Shogren's voice sounds like one of those great bluesmen from ninety years ago.” - Darius, Blogger “J Shogren will not be able to remain invisible for long, Jahamericana is simply too good. I am glad I have it, and it always lifts my spirit every time I turn up the volume on "Don't worry.” - Sweden - T Broberg “...a lively old school new Americana singer-songwriter, who is unafraid of the polka, both to sing and to dance.” - J Shogren, about his future accordion teacher “a song writer with many edges, all of them loveable” - Country Home, Germany (www.iwde.de) “Fourteen songs which seem to reflect what must have been, for all intents and purposes, a life ... Exaggerated.” - Blackblog Francosenia, Italy “...Excellent acoustic, sit-down Berryesque rock and roll.” - J Carducci, former SST records dude, infamous rock-and-roll writer and critic “Bah, it's not fair that someone with such a shiny social career than others also can make such a strong album.” - Hugo Vogel, Plato.nl, Den Haag “The songs come from the store of simple but are so tangential and persistent that you cannot get enough of them.” - MazzMusikas Mag, Belgium “Your cd is just amazing!” - DJ R Pieters, Somewhere Between on Internet Radiostation Golden Flash (www.goldenflash.be) “Great album !!! Where have you been all those years ?? 4 & 1/ 2 stars" Top 25 cds of 2007” - F Braeken, e-magazine ROOTSTIME. “Blending more styles than we can list here Shogren somehow ties it all together for his own unique sound. Thoughtful and larger than life songs set to a hard acoustic background make for some exciting listening. He's traveled the world and the stories are plentiful in these grooves. At the end of the day though it's Americana at its best.” - VILLAGE RECORDS “Like a garden full of wildflowers...there's something undeniably endearing about Shogren's ramshackle ramblings.” - Performing Songwriter, Jan 2009 |
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