James Jackson Toth preview

James Jackson Toth
Schubas, Chicago
Wednesday, September 10, 2008

James Jackson Toth has one of those voices that places him smack in the middle of a classic rock radio station’s playlist regardless of the year. Like The Black Crowes, it doesn’t matter that the singer-songwriter’s first solo record, Waiting In Vain (Ryko), hit store shelves in July, the disc’s 12 tracks are mired in an analog warmth characteristic of a Fleetwood Mac outing.

Despite the album’s touting as a solo effort, Toth is joined by his wife Jexie Lynn on nearly every boozy track; Wilco’s Nels Cline also contributes punctuated guitar riffs. On “Midnight Watchman,” the couple’s languid harmonies mosey along like a cowboy recently stripped of his rhinestones. Album closer “The Dome” fights through a layer of distortion to reveal an engaging death march that finally enters the light with a gentle sputter.

Seems Toth carries a bit of a torch for Faust as he name checks the literary character as if he were Marlowe himself, most notably on the “Highway 61”-inspired “Becoming Faust.” Rock ‘n’ roll is the devil’s playground after all, and Toth plays up the comparisons like a true rabble-rouser.

The Dutchess & The Duke and Odawas open.

— Janine Schaults

Click here to download “Nothing Hides.”

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly