Metro Pulse/Eye on the Scene

A&E: Eye on the Scene

Making a Solo Effort

Jodie Manross has spent the past year and a half establishing herself as a solo artist. As the singer and co-songwriter of the Jodie Manross Band, she led with her voice, the jewel inside the band’s funky sonic setting. So the group’s dissolution didn’t stop her from creating music. She picked up the guitar, started writing songs, and performing as a one-woman show.

Released last week to record stores—and officially via a Dec. 16 concert at Barley’s—her seven-song EP titled Don’t Save the Kisses is the result of post-breakup—band and otherwise—time alone, time that Manross made into music.

“I wrote something like 20 songs in the course of three months. I haven’t done that again, and now I’m like, where’d it go?”

The disc’s three songs from this period are “It’s My Way,” “Marie,” and “Beautifully,” tunes she describes as “very emotional, very heart-on-my-sleeve.”

In her self-deprecating manner that contrasts her strong, confident voice, Manross says she’s nervous about how these songs will be received by listeners. Chances are they’ll be glad to hear her voice and, more likely than not, relate to the songs’ sentiments; she wrote “It’s My Way” after a guy stood her up for a Jay Farrar concert. The disc’s first track hangs on a Wurlitzer keyboard strain and lands a solid emotional break at the line “Hindsight’s a glorious thing but it’s not making it any easier, and if this is a choice well I’ve got to learn to choose better.”

Three tracks were recorded live June 4, 2004, at Eddie’s Attic, a Decatur, Ga., listening room. Another version of “Marie,” plus an a cappella rendition of Buffy Sainte-Marie’s “Tall Trees in Georgia” and “No One Is to Blame.” Yes, the Howard Jones song.

“It’s a song that I’ve put on every one of my mix tapes,” she says. Hearing it on a local station renewed Manross’ affection for the song. “The lyrics are so clever. They’ve always hit me. It’s a fun, poppy ‘80s song, but it has really heartfelt lyrics.”

The EP’s title track was written by Greg Horne, who produced, recorded and mixed the studio songs, and played a grab-bag of instruments that give additional depth and resonance to Manross’ songs.

The EP will give fans a sense of what musical direction Manross is heading. Keeping to a folk singer-songwriter core, she’s starting to experiment with bluesy and country strains—whatever sounds her environment inspires. Documenting her solo material on the EP marks the next step of an ever-developing artistic vision.

“It’s something that I needed to prove to myself that I could do,” she says.

The CD release show will feature guitarist Laith Keilany, with whom Manross has recently resumed some writing projects, as well as accompaniment and a 30-minute opening set by Horne and perhaps other special guests.

Local CD review

Carl Snow
Useless (NFW Music/Sugarcane Digital Productions)

Longtime local music fans recognize guitarist Carl Snow as a ravening punk-rock madman, the frenetic, fret-rending heart of bellicose proto-hardcore outfits like KoRo, Whitey and Screaming Boy Blue. Those fans may be surprised to learn that Snow has a sensitive side, too, a master musician’s sense of melody, arrangement, and lyrical nuance. These and many more of the burly guitar player’s gifts are tastefully evidenced on Useless, a well-conceived and organically beautiful singer-songwriter showcase that constitutes (believe it or not) Snow’s first major record release.

But don’t assume that the famously ferocious axeman has wimped out; Useless is a singer-songwriter record, but more in the gnarled spirit of Tom Waits, maybe even Fred Eaglesmith, than James Taylor and his wussified ilk. Cuts like “One of Them,” “That (That),” and “She Only Loves You” are jaunty rockers, propelled on yeoman grooves and steered by Snow’s warm, ingratiating rasp. Counterpointing those high-spirited efforts are equal doses of ruminative lamentation (“Jacky,” “31 Degrees”) and sweet balladry (“Rings,” “Solace (Cindy’s Arms)”), all freighted with the world-weary pathos of Snow’s vocal delivery and starkly personal lyrics.

But what sets Useless apart from almost every other singer-songwriter effort in the known universe is Snow’s top-drawer musicianship, as well as that of his many guest players and singers—a veritable who’s who roster of Knoxville’s finest blues and rock musicians. Highlights include bluesman Hector Qirko’s nimble acoustic flourishes, singer/songwriter/poet R.B. Morris’s spoken-word contributions, and some of the last guitar tracks cut by late, great local guitar player Terry Hill. Stirring in both concept and execution, Useless is anything but. Look for it in stores in early 2005 on Sugarcane.

—Paige M. Travis, Mike Gibson