Rating: 3 Guns Buy On:
Written by: Hilary Hughes
I’m a city girl, through and through: crowded Subway cars for me are a way of life, not necessarily a nuisance, and I’ll always prefer chain link and concrete to blinding blue skies and open fields. So, when an alt-country artist like John Paul makes his way onto my playlist with his twangy steel-stringed guitar and a voice that trips over his heartfelt lyrics effortlessly, I have a bit of an identity crisis on my hands.
Don’t get me wrong, I have my moments where there’s nothing I’d rather do than grab a beaten straw cowboy hat and dance around to “9 to 5” (in the privacy of my bedroom, of course), but I don’t find myself preferring country or bluegrass to my musical diet of classic rock, flamenco, and international hip-hop.
John Paul threw me for a loop with Belmont Boulevard, for the very fact that I didn’t drag his album into the recycle bin of my hard drive upon discovering that his sound is far more Nashville than New York. His music, mellow and sunny, doesn’t beat you over the head with Americana in all its musical glory, as some contemporary country acts are known to do.
What’s my beef with Belmont Boulevard? The same chord progressions play through the album’s track list on a loop (see the last two songs, “Sinkin In” and “Way Too Soon” for proof) and John Paul’s a little to breathy for me, personally; I want my musicians with a little grit on their vocal cords, and John Paul is squeaky clean. You can’t deny that “Sinkin In” and “Drink and Drive” get you moving, however, and I’m amused by the melodic similarities between “45’s" catchy lead-in and the bridge in Hole’s “Celebrity Skin”. Hey, any Courtney Love/Country connection is sure to stop anyone in his or her tracks, right?
So, if you’re jonesin’ for an escape from your asphalt jungle and you need a refreshing reminder that there’s a world beyond the skyscrapers of your city, give John Paul’s Belmont Boulevard a spin. He may not inspire an impromptu road trip through America’s heartland complete with Great Plains and heaping servings of apple pie, but his music will certainly satisfy the urban cowboy in everyone, even the gravest of country music cynics.
Like this artist? You may also like: Ryan Adams, James Taylor, John Mellencamp
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