Sometimes simplicity works remarkably well. On the most recent album and current tour, Jamestown Revival toned down the voltage and returned to back-porch purity. The axis on which the band spins now is rooted in twin vocal harmonies and acoustic guitars, with fiddle and pedal steel work augmenting the heartland sound. Jamestown has come full circle, revisiting in a new way the sound that originally glued the band together.
Guitarist Jonathan Clay and keyboardist Zach Chance first played music together as teenagers in Magnolia, Texas. After some time pursuing individual music paths, they formed Jamestown Revival as a folk duo in 2010. Over time, they expanded the bandwidth and became more rocking. The 2022 version of Jamestown Revival is firmly grounded in vintage sounds. Americana often is a delicate blend of varying levels of bluegrass, blues, country & western, folk, jazz, roots rock, swing, and whatever other traditions the musicians can squeeze into the mix. At the Music Hall of Williamsburg, Clay and Chance relied more heavily on the bluegrass element, with assistance from Robert Ellis on guitar, Ross Holmes on fiddle, Will Van Horn on pedal steel, Nick Bearden on bass, and Ed Benrock on drums.
Jamestown Revival began its performance by playing in order all 10 songs from its fourth and most recent album, Young Man, released January 14. In the middle of this suite, the band injected a cover of Santo & Johnny’s instrumental “Sleep Walk,” a surprise which did not appear on the band’s printed set list. Upon the conclusion of the 10 songs from Young Man, the ensemble added three songs from albums past, but with somewhat new arrangements tailored to the present trajectory.
Being that Jamestown Revival was performing on St. Patrick’s Day, the band began the encore with an impromptu violin-based rendition of “Danny Boy.” The band continued with more songs from the early albums. The performance concluded with “Prospector’s Blues,” a song from the 2021 EP Fireside with Louis L’Amour: A Collection of Songs Inspired by Tales from the American West, derived from L’Amour’s short story, “Trap of Gold.”
Jamestown Revival’s lyrics were vignettes of small town America, an uncluttered study of ordinary folk reflecting on their joys and challenges. Clay and Chance’s flawless and ever-present harmonies embraced the gentle innocence of this storytelling. The accompaniment of finger picking on the guitar, the slide of the pedal steel and the new introduction of the vibrating bow on the fiddle brought the entire performance to an idyllic homey experience. For a few hours on St. Patrick’s Day, Jamestown Revival was able to use its music to transport its audience away from a tense and chaotic city life.
Setlist
- Coyote
- Young Man
- Moving Man
- Northbound
- These Days
- Sleep Walk (Santo & Johnny cover)
- One Step Forward
- Slow It Down
- Way It Was
- Old Man Looking Back
- Working On Love
- California (Cast Iron Soul)
- Midnight Hour
- Revival
Encore
- Danny Boy (traditional cover)
- Callin’ Baton Rouge (The Oak Ridge Boys cover)
- Prospector’s Blues
