Vinnie James – Songs for the Long Journey

There is a certain quality of voice, of presence, and of material that makes a performing songwriter worthy to sit down in a studio with a single instrument and be given worldwide exposure.

Neil Diamond comes to mind, Ryan Adams perhaps (if you can deal with erratic inconsistency), certainly Richie Havens. Jack Williams has it locked. There is now some rumbling that another such entity is playing his way up the hard staircase.

Dave Geffen of Geffen Records once called Vinnie James "a distinctive, multi-threat talent". He can write, play, sing, produce, promote, and above all PERFORM.

In today's music business he has to.

Vinnie's toured with a lot of the Old Guard: Carole King, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne and Taj Mahal to name a few. His first release on RCA, All American Boy, earned him a Grammy nomination for the single Black Money, quite possibly one of the best songs ever written about how drug profits destroy everything they touch. Not a popular subject for those who want to romanticize that crap, but it needs to be said. Those of us who have come out on the other side alive, mourning dead friends, especially appreciate it

When the now-indie Vinnie James took off to Scotland last July, there were a great many people in the industry curious as to exactly what he was up to. Now, six weeks before the planned release of his new CD Songs for the Long Journey, I've had the good fortune to touch bases with him and hear his entire new project.

Vinnie's been doing very, very well. This kind of recording appeals to me, recorded on loaner instruments in a one-room studio as a labor of love. Vinnie even had to boil the borrowed harmonica.

His situation even landed him on British television, here's the clip from BBC-TV.

But is what Vinnie James doing now Americana music? Let's see…acoustic guitar, harmonica, bagpipes, cedar flute, intense vocals, and strong message: if it ain't it should be. It isn't the faux-Americana (I swan if I see one more old windmill next to a broke-down pickup, or another strip-mall cowboy leaning soulfully up against a battered brick wall, I'm gonna hurl like Paris Hilton) currently being lapped up by Rockabilly fans, that's for sure.

Vinnie James runs deeper, asks hard questions, and looks at things from a different perspective. This music isn't performed wearing rhinestones, and Vinnie is more apt to be found wearing a sailor's bandana than a cowboy hat. His own description of his work is "folk-hybrid", but linking "folk" to that "hybrid" is a bit misleading. Like calling a wolf dog a "puppy-hybrid".

Now, to the tunes.

Lose the I is the first cut, and it lays the cards right out there. If you can't get past being selfish and self-centered, you ARE the problem. The harsh intro is, in my opinion, righteously jarring. The sardonic use of sixties-style R&B/Folk to drive home the message was not lost on me. For many American hedonists, this is the point of view you will not be provided by a multibillion-dollar machine based on selling you the next silly fad to make you feel fulfilled. You should at least peek through the bars into the next cage every once in awhile. This song provides a keyhole, if you care to spare a glance.

Homeless Man is sung as a memory, with the disjointed images and thoughts of a child going to a rainy bus stop with one added errand from a decent mother. There are some great sounds in here – a lone basketball bouncing on the court, a softly strummed guitar, with elegant reverb on some key vocals. Fine rhythm and poetry. The closing line seals the song.

Queen of the Dance is an image of loss and longing. A well-traveled subject, true, but animated here by some outstanding lyrical exploration, expressing some very deep anger at a useless waste. Some of us have had that snowball-in-the-pit-of-the-belly feeling on hearing horrible news. Obviously Vinnie is one of us, and he came out of it with a beautiful howl of pain.

When is sappy and sentimental good? Mister How Big is the World starts out with an intro sung by two little Scottish girls who live near Vinnie in Glasgow. They are asking a perfectly reasonable question, from a child's point of view. And, like many adults, Vinnie doesn't have the heart to give an honest answer. He just passes the question on to us.

Here I'm going to ask for your indulgence. Ah, screw your indulgence; this is my review after all. I'm a sucker for love songs, I just don't think there are ever enough of them. Everlasting Love is a sweet, gooey, danceable tune with some fun lyrics that, hopefully, will earn Vinnie enough money on pop radio to keep him recording.

Children of the Garden of Eden is a slow, soulful ballad about life in an imperfect world. Life on the streets, but strong, not weak. Hopeful, not hopeless. Here's a lyric that grabbed me in particular:

"So close your stained glass windows,
Send your preachers home
They cannot say one single word
Their actions have not shown"

So, obviously not sucking up to the Far Right, are we? Good luck getting that one played on a Clear Channel station, bud. You can glorify drugs and sex, but don't talk about those preacher-men.

Save the World starts out as a nice dance tune that could have come right off of a Motown record…but wait, who threw in an actual message here, and the phased rap with horns? Cool. Definitely not twang, but classy as hell.

One of my great complaints with Steve Earle's "Copperhead Road" was that he didn't take the time to find a real piper to throw that bagpipe lick on the front end. As a result, the electro-pipe intro sounds kind of cheesy to pipe buffs. Vinnie did not make the same mistake, bringing in Duncan J. Nicholson of the award-winning Strathclyde Police Pipe Band to play some very solid, tasty stuff on County Line. Acoustic guitar, bagpipe, cedar flute, and backing up yer bro – HELL yeah! To tell a complex story like this as a series of flashing images is the work of a lyrical wizard.

My Heaven is another tender love song. Yeah, I see that look, but when you're on the couch with that special someone, you WANT this song coming over the speakers, trust me. The way the keyboard drops out at the end is something I've not heard yet in a tune, a sparse and definite close. I liked it.

Summertime is an anthem for people who are burdened under that strange northern season called "winter". We don't get it here in Arizona, but we really feel for you poor frozen folk up there. Not really. But you should listen to this tune, just to drive those icicles a little deeper under your fingernails. There is something going on here between the fuzzy electric guitar lead and a percussive string effect that is lonely, haunting, wintry, and original.

The disc closes with the simple Hello Angel, carried perfectly with just voice and acoustic guitar. This is where Vinnie James comes through most powerfully on a powerful project. A clean, spare showstopper, an excellent closing tune for a fine piece of work.

If this CD had already been released, it would have easily made my Top Ten for 2006. I would be very surprised if it doesn't make the cut for 2007.

Now, if this guy could find a decent label and an honest manager, he could stop eating haggis on the moor and get to Paris for some real food.