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If you want to call The Jonah Kit's hard-bitten acoustic music "folk," you have to qualify it - this is acerbic Americana that's just as at home in a raunchy barroom as it is in an intimate coffeehouse; this is folk music with blood in its veins. It's a refreshing spin on the singer-songwriter tradition that draws inspiration from the indignant, inflexibly at-odds-with-the-world misfits of decades past: Hank Williams, Fred Neil, Townes Van Zandt, Lou Reed. A sound that blends folk, punk, country, and rock with literate, honest lyrics to create something new, impassioned, and real.
From the unpredictable vocals and guitar of Jonah Watchman—soft-spoken one minute, explosive the next—to the dynamic grooves of upright bassist Dave Herman and drummer Taylor Still, The Jonah Kit is unique in their attention to stylistic range, expression, and boldness. Each song conjures its own scene, a combined evocation of character, location, atmosphere, and emotion that is reminiscent of the dark, immersive grit of old westerns or film noir.
In fact, The Jonah Kit will catch audiences off-guard if they're expecting a milder brand of acoustic music. But when an audience catches on to what the band is doing—when it sees that the trio is taking folk traditions to their outer limits—that audience responds with the kind of cheers and howls reserved for only the most original genre-benders.
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CDs availible:
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The Jonah Kit - American Songbag
"Armed with a punk rock sneer worthy of Jello Biafra and a love of traditional roots music ranging from Fred Neil to Townes Van Zandt, The Jonah Kit's Jonah Watchman is one of the most fascinating frontmen to emerge in some time. His San Francisco-based trio comes with classic country instrumentation, while Watchman presides likeably over the arrangements with an almost irascible charisma. He's a strange dude for sure, and his delivery casts him as a lanky prairie iconoclast, traversing the American Heartland with a Mohawk tucked under his cowboy hat. Vibrating away through such numbers as the prickly "Rebound Shit" or the doleful "Mercy Kit," Watchman brings to each composition a real originality that's complemented by his band's studious rootsty accompaniment. He can play it pretty straight ("Uncle Cadillac," "Another") or go wild before a campfire ("I've Got Something In My Eye," "Even My Dog Done Made A Fool Outta Me"), but either way, Watchman is never dull company."
—Alex Green/Caught In The Carousel
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