The Bumper Jacksons have a classic sound that spreads all the ways from the Appalachian holler traditional to smoky jazz club juke joints. The 2014 release, "Sweet Mama, Sweet Daddy, Come In," showcases exactly what makes The Bumper Jacksons special in an ever-saturated market of jazzy, blues infused, old-timey crowd pleasers. One major thing that is refreshing about the record is that everyone in the band is given plenty of room to show what they bring to the table, with the 13 tracks expanding across multiple genres.
Jess Eliot Myhre's crisply warm vocals infuse each of the tracks, reminding this listener of the depth of Jolie Holland combined with the jazzy lushness of Mildred Bailey. Her vocals on tracks like "Darkness on the Delta" and "Tippy Toe Sam" sound remarkably modern while retaining a sense of controlled ease that permeated so many records of the 1920s and '30s.
Chris Ousley's guitar and vocals on "Kicking the Bucket Over You" add a deceptively simple country and western style that peeks in throughout the album, highlighted by Dave Hadley's assured pedal steel guitar. Dan Samuel's drums and Alex Lacquement's stand-up bass flawlessly bring each track back home to that American roots sound that has been re-emerging so heavily over the last few years. However, it's the duets of Brian Priebe's trombone and Myhre's clarinet that give the album it's murky and smoky soul.
The Bumper Jackson's aren't content to rest on their laurels and will keep pushing their influences past the breaking point into something transcendent and breathtaking. Myhre has a history with church music and spent time in New Orleans with street bands and second lines. Ousley studied the banjo in Western Pennsylvania while traveling through abandoned steel and coal towns. Lacquement took his two degrees in music education and applied it to old-time string bands which eventually led him to his structured, yet trippingly jazzy style with The Bumper Jacksons.
The Bumper Jacksons
Saturday, Feb. 27. 7 p.m.
Sisters High School, 1700 McKinney Rd., Sisters
$15-$20
