Search - Johnsmith :: Break Me Open

One of Johnsmith's Finest.

W. Roth | San Jose, CA USA | 06/26/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As a whole, Break Me Open is a great album. John has assembled a great set of musicians to play with, including Suzy Ragsdale on vocals, and ace Fiddle player Tim O'Brien. Having O'Brien on this album is a testament to the much deserved success John has recently found. His daughter Elisi makes an appearance in the album as well, and she is clearly her father's daughter. Her clear, high voice is a perfect match for John's, and I am sure he must be very proud of her.



Break Me Open, well, "opens" with a native American themed song "Back to the Mystery", and it covers a number of themes. First, he makes a reference to the "The Four Directions", and sings about his travels and the pull back to his roots in nature. He also makes reference to his family, mentioning his children, and the death of his father. The song ends with a native American chant perfectly blended into the coda.



If you want to know what its like to live in Western Wisconsin in March and April, listen to Pothole Season. The song describes feeling of being shut in, and having to endure another day of bad weather after 6 months of it. But the song resolves, as do the chords, into a song of hope for spring.



Many of John's best songs are about the modulation of love across a lifetime reltionship. The Honest Truth picks up the thread from his earlier work like "Darlin' I do" from "In the Blend", and he continues it with "Messy Thing" and "Love's Not Through With Me."



The best art evokes powerful reactions. The song "Cold Cold Ground" is such a song. There are times when I can't listen do this song. It is a beautiful song, but the emotions are so intense and so personal. In this song, John has written a folky, major-key dirge for his brother Davey, who recently died. My own brother, also named David, has a very dangerous job, and I worry about him a lot, and I hope this song never becomes a reality for me.



"Silver Creek" is also a very powerful song for me as well for completely different reasons. I know John grew up in Iowa and lives in Trempealeau, one county to the north of La Crosse, where I grew up. But we has a place like this, called Miller's Pond. It was a n offshoot of the western fork of the Mississippi river and we got there by turning off of I-90 on the way to La Crescent. He describes it perfectly. Skinny-dipping by the light of the moon, jumping into the water from the railroad bridge. John has raised this experience to one of universality of growing up and growing old.



The album's eponymous song "Break Me Open" is a blues prayer invoking the creative gods to break his soul and emotions open and let them flood out and into his music. John also brings back his partner from the Runaway duo, Dan Sebranek, another luminary in the vibrant (though undercovered) Western Wisconsin music seen that also includes the likes of L. J. Booth, who is also credited on the album.



My favorite song on the album is "Box Elder", which is a song about a tree. It is originally a song by LJ Booth, also from Western Wisconsin. It is a very rich song, and has so many different levels. It starts out with a riff reminicent of Lyle Lovett's "Closing Time". The tree becomes a metaphor for struggles of life, and also of transcendence. His daughter Elisi sings harmony on this song, and is the perfect complement to her father. In some ways it reminds me of another one of my favorite songs "Part Time Angels". He also conjures up some great images, like the poor FedEx man. There are also times when John's faith comes through his music. His mention of Calvary transforms the tree into something sad and yet powerfully redemptive in its will to live.



Picking up on his "travelling man" theme, "21 miles" is about coming home after a tour of the southern states. He describes the directions from Oklahoma to Trempealeau perfectly, and we get another glimpse of the home that he and Jojo have built over the years.



Finally, he conjures up a song that recalls his work on "Traveller", "So Here's To You". The song is a Celtic toast to friends, and the kind of friendship that develops over the years. It is a simple beautiful song. The final harmonies are classic Johnsmith, clear, honest and pitch-perfect.

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