Jackpine Social Club
2005
Deliver Me
About This Album
Guitarist Tom Heyman has amassed a pretty hefty résumé as a sideman (Alejandro Escovedo, John Vanderslice, Mark Eitzel) and as a bandmember (Go to Blazes, Marah, Map of Wyoming), but Deliver Me is only his second recording as a solo artist. Released on San Francisco's Jackpine Social Club label, Deliver Me is a woolly mix of folk (à la Tom Rush, Tim Buckley, and Fred Neil), gritty roots rock, blues, and even solid white boy R&B. Heyman has a slew of pals playing on this, including Wilco's John Stirratt, Chuck Prophet, and Eitzel. None of that stuff really matters, though, because Deliver Me stands and falls on its own due to Heyman's abilities as a songwriter and producer (he sat alongside Sean Coleman for this set). Mostly, Deliver Me sounds like a relic, something held over and unearthed from either the folk revival as it entered the 1960s or from the barroom rock era of the late '60s and early '70s. And it is drenched in the feel of San Francisco. It's laid-back, although it carries real tension in some of its song, and it feels good even when the tunes are sad, dour, or angry. The gems here are plentiful. The opener, "Alright," is a folksy country love song that stands tall in its realist optimism and contains a catchall chorus sung by a small backing group amidst the wandering and ringing guitars.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and 9)

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