The Hunting & The Hope Missouri

The Hunting & The Hope

Joe Thompson

Galuminum Foil, 2007

http://baldjoey.com

REVIEW BY: Jason Warburg

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 01/04/2008

Comparisons can be a compliment or an albatross; I‘ve certainly been conscious of that danger when comparing artists whose work I’ve enjoyed to iconic acts like the Beatles and Bruce Springsteen.

So it was with at least one eyebrow raised that I read where Joe Thompson’s one-sheet rather audaciously suggests he sometimes sounds like Johnny Cash -- and damned if that isn’t right on target. There’s a depth of tone and resonance and a sense of hard-won experience on several these tracks that grants Thompson a Cash-like authority over the listener’s attention. The vibrato Thompson throws in sometimes also reminds me a bit of Steven Page of the Barenaked Ladies -- not that the music sounds anything like that; it’s more dirty-cheeked Nashville than tongue-in-cheek Toronto. Thompson’s genre is Americana, and that label has rarely sounded more apt than in the midst of this set of thinking-man’s blue-collar country-folk’n’roll.

Opener “These Days” is a standout, featuring a great hook, punchy piano chords over acoustic rhythm guitar and a propulsive beat, with lithe electric guitar lines painting the corners. Maybe the neatest trick on this full-bodied track is that there are actually only two players on it, with co-producer and virtual one-man band Chris Cubeta handling drums, bass, electric guitar, piano and backing vocals.

The meditative, primarily acoustic “Only In The Night” offers a pleasant interlude leading into the rollicking “Another Year ‘Round The Bend,” a full-tilt country boogie duet between Thompson and guest vocalist Julie Foster, who’s an Emmylou Harris-ish dynamo. Underneath all the fun lies a perceptive lyric about doing what you have to in order to live without regret.