JAKE ARMERDING: Walking on the World

Jake Armerding

Walking on the World

© 2007 Jake Armerding (620673302029)

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This is an Americana-rock travelogue. For anyone who's ever had a backpack, a credit card and a country to head off to.

notes

Upon reviewing his latest release, the Americana-rock travelogue _Walking On The World_, the Boston Globe simply said: "Armerding's a master at bending boundaries."

A smattering of wildly different influences -- mainly classical violin, bluegrass fiddle and 1980s pop-rock songwriting -- left Jake Armerding with no choice but to create his own musical genre. The son of newspaper columnist and bluegrass singer/mandolinist Taylor Armerding, Jake was raised on good music and good writing. By the time he graduated Wheaton College (IL) in 2000 with a degree in English, he had sold a thousand copies of his debut CD, _Caged Bird_, and the following year saw him land a coveted prize: the title of Best New Artist of 2001 from one of the best-loved folk radio stations in the country, WUMB 91.9fm Boston.

Armerding moved to Nashville that same year; he chafed against the scene and was back in Boston eight months later, but he had a new album to show for it. _Jake Armerding_, a collection of folk-pop songs written in Music City, was released nationally by Nashville independent Compass Records in 2003. Over 200 radio stations spun the record, and Cleveland Country Magazine opined, "If you're willing to back an emerging new talent, look no further than Jake Armerding's impressive debut." He went on to land the Newport, Kerrville and Falcon Ridge Folk Festivals, logging some 300 performances over the next three years.

Armerding tried to limit himself to folk but had no luck -- the songs he began writing for his next project showed traces of rock, Celtic and 1950s-era country music. "I think genres are for record stores, and unfortunately, record stores are dying out," he comments. "But good music is good music, wherever it comes from." The new album features Dan Dugmore on pedal steel, John Doyle on guitar and friends Aoife O'Donovan (of Crooked Still) and Mark Erelli on backing vocals, along with Armerding on vocals, guitar, violin and mandolin. _Walking On The World_ refuses to be labeled; over the course of eleven songs, Americana, country, rock, folk, pop and bluegrass all have their say.

But it is what they call good music.

reviews

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  • terrific
    author: Sandra

    this album is beautiful, intelligent, interesting, and challenging -- jake armerding is truly an amazing musician (and even more impressive - if that's possible - when seen/heard live). one of my favorite albums.

  • More excellence from Jake
    author: BlogDog

    Jake took his time in getting "Walking on the World" out and my only complaint is that I had to wait so long for it. But it's all new material and songs that I've been enjoying live like the title track, "Flirting" and "Keep the River on Your Right" are here. You might get the impression that I'm a fan of Jake's and you'd be right. Don't expect me to say anything negative about this disc because there's nothing negative to say. The celebratory lyrics of "Walking on the World" once again show what a talented lyricist Jake is. "Flirting" has a wonderful ominous vibe. This disc seems somehow more mature, as in developed, compared to his eponymous CD and "Caged Bird." I don't recall hearing the layering of instruments that lead out of "Critical Eye" before for example. And the way "Assassination Blues" leads in a dark, minor-key sort of way to ramp up to an electric burst when it comes to the chorus - great stuff. This is another excellent disc from Jake. A rewarding listen as were his others. I admire the intelligence that goes into his music and lyrics. My only question is why the GraceNote CDDB categorizes this as "country" when his other discs were "folk." I do think of Jake as folk artist. I could not urge anyone to buy this any more strongly. It's terrific.

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