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"Twisted tight, tall and wide / Always on my mind / The kind of place / That’d you feel safe..."
The captured folk beauty, absolutely stunning storytelling of "Never Again" by Louisiana bred / Nashville based singer-songwriter Jess Kerber, and from her debut album ‘From Way Down Here’, plays like a personal opening of the heart to a close friend, confidant. I love the percussive acoustic guitar rhythms that hold the strummed notes that elevate the notes like gently tossing a child into the air and the rolling bass and cutting twangy pedal steel guitars giving the whole affair an open sky dreaminess. All this as a vehicle for Kerber's intimate storytelling carried on her unique, potently emotional voice is something else. Just something else entirely. The kind of song that inspires you and casts your own internal indie flick in your mind.
About her process, Kerber notes, “The most important thing is to lean into intuition, and when I was working with Will on these songs, it was so much fun that I almost forgot we were making a record.” Fittingly, 'From Way Down Here' is the rare debut that shows all the fully-formed hallmarks of a seasoned songwriter, and across its varied environments, she creates a compelling world of raw beauty and truth, whose spell remains long after the final notes fade.
LINER NOTES ( excerpted / bracketed):
[Nashville’s Jess Kerber first picked up a guitar at the age of 12, and her precocious drive to experiment with different tunings and picking styles – influenced by kindred spirits like Joni Mitchell and Susan Tedeschi – led to the development of a unique sonic palette and authentic, personal approach to songwriting. On debut album ‘From Way Down Here’, she crafts a beautiful suite of powerfully emotive songs that reflect on maturity, humility, and the importance of feeling at home. Inspired equally by her upbringing in Louisiana and exposure to contemporary indie-folk as a student at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, these ten pieces highlight the dynamism and depth of Kerber’s gorgeous voice and thoughtful, humanistic lyrics, as well as the refined intricacy of her guitar playing.]
[While developing many of these compositions at early live performances in and around Boston and Cambridge, Kerber encountered fellow songwriter Will Orchard, who quickly became a partner and collaborator in the genesis of their recording. Orchard’s production prowess and multi-instrumental talents helped push Kerber’s arrangements to a new level of fullness, while retaining the disarming purity and emotion of the main elements, in a dynamic akin to that of renowned contemporaries Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. Nodding to the traditions of Americana, the two artists – along with mixing engineer Charlie Dahlke of The Brazen Youth – have created their own subgenre that is at once intimate and universal, comforting and raw.]
LYRICS
Twisted tight, tall and wide
Always on my mind
The kind of place
That’d you feel safe
It’s always hot
Where I’m from
A different kind of numb
In December
I miss it sometimes
But never for long
I’ll Know it forever
But never again
Tucked away, sometimes awake
Never on your mind
The kind of place
You think you’d like to go
Pretty sweet, company
If you’re new around
But leave before
You never leave again
I miss it sometimes
But never for long
I’ll know it forever
But never again
I miss the weekends
With nothing to do
Now all of my reasons
Are also my excuses
4th of July at Zemurray Park
I’d see some friends there
And the others I couldn’t tell apart
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://jesskerber.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/jess.kerber/
https://bsky.app/profile/jesskerber.bsky.social
https://www.facebook.com/jesskerbersounds
https://www.instagram.com/jess.kerber/
https://bsky.app/profile/jesskerber.bsky.social
https://www.facebook.com/jesskerbersounds
https://www.tiktok.com/@jess.kerber
https://felte.lnk.to/Jess-Kerber
Nashville’s Jess Kerber first picked up a guitar at the age of 12, and her precocious drive to experiment with different tunings and picking styles – influenced by kindred spirits like Joni Mitchell and Susan Tedeschi – led to the development of a unique sonic palette and authentic, personal approach to songwriting. Inspired equally by her upbringing in Louisiana and her studies at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, her compositions highlight the dynamism and depth of her gorgeous voice and thoughtful, humanistic lyrics, as well as the refined intricacy of her guitar playing. While performing in and around Boston and Cambridge, Kerber encountered fellow songwriter Will Orchard, who quickly became a partner and collaborator. Working together on debut album From Way Down Here, Orchard’s production prowess, intuition, and multi-instrumental talents helped push Kerber’s beautiful compositions to a new level of fullness, while retaining the disarming purity of the core elements. Kerber’s rich, emotive tenor and accomplished writing radiate a profound warmth, while varying arrangements of pedal steel, Wurlitzer, drums, and ambient guitar create the surrounding sparkle. The influence of her musician parents – along with a certain nostalgia for what she lovingly calls the “way apart from the rest of the world feeling” of the Deep South – shines through in the honest, straightforward, and timeless qualities of her composition.
Nashville’s Jess Kerber first picked up a guitar at the age of 12, and her precocious drive to experiment with different tunings and picking styles – influenced by kindred spirits like Joni Mitchell and Susan Tedeschi – led to the development of a unique sonic palette and authentic, personal approach to songwriting. Inspired equally by her upbringing in Louisiana and her studies at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, her compositions highlight the dynamism and depth of her gorgeous voice and thoughtful, humanistic lyrics, as well as the refined intricacy of her guitar playing. While performing in and around Boston and Cambridge, Kerber encountered fellow songwriter Will Orchard, who quickly became a partner and collaborator. Working together on debut album From Way Down Here, Orchard’s production prowess, intuition, and multi-instrumental talents helped push Kerber’s beautiful compositions to a new level of fullness, while retaining the disarming purity of the core elements. Kerber’s rich, emotive tenor and accomplished writing radiate a profound warmth, while varying arrangements of pedal steel, Wurlitzer, drums, and ambient guitar create the surrounding sparkle. The influence of her musician parents – along with a certain nostalgia for what she lovingly calls the “way apart from the rest of the world feeling” of the Deep South – shines through in the honest, straightforward, and timeless qualities of her composition.
unique vocal stylings, personal storytelling, dreamy, folk pop, singer songwriter, retro folk, folk,"Never Again", indie folk, evocative, Jess Kerber, musician, orchestrated, debut album
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