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Scarecrows Burn by Jonathan Pointer
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fave it Modern Folk | Acoustic Blues
10 tracks | 44 minutes
Released Oct 2002
on Songs For Cheap
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- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 05:28 Smells Like Love lyrics BUY MP3 05:28 Smells Like Love lyrics "GIFT MP3" 05:28 Smells Like Love
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:39 Yard Sale lyrics BUY MP3 03:39 Yard Sale lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:39 Yard Sale
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:14 Psalms of Owen Tabor lyrics BUY MP3 04:14 Psalms of Owen Tabor lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:14 Psalms of Owen Tabor
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:08 The Baby Smokers lyrics FREE 04:08 The Baby Smokers lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:08 The Baby Smokers
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:49 Scarecrows Burn lyrics BUY MP3 03:49 Scarecrows Burn lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:49 Scarecrows Burn
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:24 Highway 13 lyrics BUY MP3 03:24 Highway 13 lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:24 Highway 13
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:54 The Sea Tonight lyrics BUY MP3 03:54 The Sea Tonight lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:54 The Sea Tonight
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 07:10 Ascension Day lyrics BUY MP3 07:10 Ascension Day lyrics "GIFT MP3" 07:10 Ascension Day
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:52 Evangeline lyrics BUY MP3 04:52 Evangeline lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:52 Evangeline
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:53 Gauloise Blue lyrics BUY MP3 03:53 Gauloise Blue lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:53 Gauloise Blue
Smoky, gritty, down home acoustic adult folk for fans of Randy Newman, Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen.
Editorial review
Scarecrows Burn, New York singer/songwriter Jonathan Pointer's debut, is a low-key collection of haunting, sophisticated folk-based tunes with a penchant for the underbelly of love, life, the road and the sea. Not necessarily new themes in folk music, but at his best Pointer redeems them with language that is able to get his emotional point across, while at the same time not really giving too much away. Tracks such as "The Sea Tonight," the severed love of the title-song, the Randy Newman twistedness of "Smells Like Love" and the betrayal of "Evangeline" are almost like impressionistic sketches, often skeletal and vague, while at the same time vivid, evoking mood more than actual details. Throughout Scarecrows Burn there are looming shadows, whether it's death, demons, broken hearts or broken dreams, which don't really make for casual listening. Even jokes such as the novelty number "The Baby Smokers," or memories of youth, like "Highway 13" and "Ascension Day," veer toward the dark side. Still, it's the lovely, almost exclusively acoustic arrangements, built around Pointer's intricate guitar work, his limited yet intriguing voice and fetching melodies, whose subtleties begin to imprint themselves on your mind after a few spins, that draw you into his songs. Pointer does have the tendency though to slide a little too close to the beat romanticism of Jack Kerouac and early Tom Waits, whose "Broken Bicycles" seems to be the blueprint for the Pointer- and Fred Koller-penned "Yard Sale." And while these moments aren't totally void of charm, songs like the barroom worship of "The Psalms of Owen Tabor" and the underappreciated jazzman in "Gauloise Blues (Smokin' the Night Away)," co-written with Koller, can overly sentimentalize their down-and-out heroes. Even with its occasional lyrical flaws, Scarecrows Burn is a beautifully understated, promising first record by an artist who should only get better. ~ Brett Hartenbach, All Music Guide
Bio / Background
Jonathan Pointer is a son of Missouri. Raised and educated by Methodists, his early career included turns as a state mental hospital attendant, a dog-catcher, a pizza deliverer, a door to door meat seller and a House Manager at Carnegie Hall. These are the experiences from which are drawn the off-centered, provocative and surprisingly touching stories that are his music.
The comparisons come quickly: Randy Newman, Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, and Richard Thompson. Such similarities are born of his gritty voice, the esoteric subject matter, and songs that provide a telescopic view of the building across the street in a world that is "hardly the utopian legacy our parents had in mind." Such comparisons only serve to reveal the originality of an artist The Washington Post called an "Americana folk hero."
Jonathan Pointer has appeared on CBS's "Off 10th," and Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
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