Customer Reviews

Honeysuckle Sweet

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Jessi Alexander's debut is an impressive outing filled with excellent songcraft as a writer, stellar delivery as a vocalist and excellent arrangements that deliver the punch. Looking much younger than her 32 years, the cover art radiates sunshine. On the slow dreamy "Unfulfilled," Alexander croons & moans, "I'm tired of tastin' sulfur, Damn this river water, And lately you know he ain't been too much help, He wasn't always this lazy, I guess he's just gone crazy, He's probably feeling the same way I feel myself." It's a powerful punch. The title track is a lovely anthem to country life with Darrell Scott & Wendy Waldman joining a chorus of background vocals. The set concludes with the gorgeous melody "Canyon Prayer" whose arrangement builds to anthematic proportions with strings as Alexander sings to the Creator, "Tie my hands, ignore my demands, build a wall that stands so high I can't get through until I turn to you." "Can You Make It Feel Right" propels with a hot toe-tapping beat with Colin Linden's excellent electric lead guitar. "The Long Way" makes me hit the repeat button with a catchy melody and Alexander's powerhouse vocal, "He wants to change my zip code & change my luck with warm beer & stale cigarettes." "Honeysuckle Sweet" is an excellent & promising debut. Enjoy!

Prime Cuts: Canyon Prayer, Everywhere, I'd Run Right Back to You

Caught in between recording label politics, a sign of relief must have been exhaled by Alexander and her camp when "Honeysuckle Sweet" finally hits the shelves after a two year wait. And country music is indeed richer to have Jessi Alexander as she brings to the genre her canorous vocals textured with a bluesy edge reminiscent of Shelby Lynne and Bonnie Riatt. Not only is Alexander a sultry vocalist with soul, she writes with a deep a level of maturity that betrays her youthfulness. Her keening insights of life and love exude depth and dimension without slipping into stagy world-weariness. Further, her ability to reach into the recesses of the heart allows her to express a rhetoric that is so endearing that country music's stalwarts such as Patty Loveless, Kathy Mattea and Trisha Yearwood have cut her songs. Needless to say, "Honeysuckle Sweet" showcases some of her finer compositions mostly as co-writes with other notable scribes such as producer Gary Nicholson, Al Anderson, Sally Barris, Benmont Tench and Austin Cunningham. Augmented by Gary Nicholson's earthy and rustic production, this has resulted in a product that is a cross between southern blues and contemporary country.

Current single "Canyon Prayer" is an instant charmer: a moving ballad of utter surrender to the Lord. From a soft whisper to a crescendo cry Alexander truly captures the desperation of this paean for divine intervention. Accompanied by a piano the first few notes of "Everywhere" unveil a lonely Alexander on another heart wrenching ballads. Dry and crusty as the delta on a high noon in August is the swampy blues "Unfilled." Writing from the viewpoint of a frustrated house wife who had perpetually been through the wringers of loneliness, "Unfilled" surfaces such feelings that few dared to express. On the other hand, the uptempo "I'd Run Right Back to You" has a commercial sheen underscored by its infectiously catchy chorus.

However, radio's response towards Alexander has been lukewarm. This may be because her first couple of singles is good but not outstanding. The banjo and pedal steel strains are unable to save the title cut from its anonymity. With its 80s sounding drums the pop sounding "Make Me Stay or Make Me Leave" is an ultimatum that is not poignant enough for radio lines to light up. Aside from these singles, there are also a few tracks that are just a tad on the ordinary side such as the Jon Randall vocally supported "This World Is Crazy" or the Reba sounding "Can You Make It Feel Right."

Rarely does a major label color outside its lines to sign such a promising artist that is not afraid to stretch the boundaries a little. Shame it would be if Sony drop Alexander due to the lack of radio hits.

Although she is signed to a major label, country singer Jessi Alexander's debut album HONEYSUCKLE SWEET seems to be the kind of album that you'd be best off finding in the record stores rather than hearing it on corporatized country radio. This is not to say that it isn't a very impressive first album, because it is. It just may be TOO impressive for country radio.

HONEYSUCKLE SWEET reflects not only a love for country music in and of itself, but also other forms, like Southern blues and even vintage swamp rock, given the presence of slide guitars and the like on songs like "Unfulfilled." And there's a true feeling of Southern warmth on songs like the title track and the closing "Canyon Prayer" that put Jessi more in the place of such fringe artists as Tift Merritt or Allison Moorer than with Faith Hill or Shania Twain. The songs themselves, all of which were either written or co-written by her, may not be profound statements, but they are certainly well crafted and well thought out. Ironically enough, given her Southern background, Jessi has also earned comparisons to sage West Coast country-rock goddess Linda Ronstadt in terms of her interpretive abilities--a comparison bolstered on HONEYSUCKLE SWEET by the presence of folks who have worked with Linda, like steel player Dan Dugmore, Benmont Tench, Kenny Edwards, and Wendy Waldman. Aside from having the usual Nashville studio gloss, the album is entirely free from many of the cliched, tailored-for-radio stuff that has clogged country radio for the better part of a decade.

Unfortunately, that last part is precisely why it can't get any airplay; it just isn't what country radio expects. But for anyone with a taste for country music that sounds different from most of what is out there, one can do much worse than this album. Jessi Alexander is an artist worth supporting, no matter what the powers-that-be in country radio might have you believe.

Jessi Alexander can sing, she can write, and she can front a band on stage with aplomb. She looks good too. There was a time when country radio played thoughtful, but not depressing, music like this. Rosanne Cash, Pam Tillis, Emmylou Harris, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and Kathy Mattea all had their day in the sun on country radio. But no longer. Country radio keeps getting dumber and dumber and there is just no place on the dial for this kind of music.

In a sense, this album is an effort to try to do the impossible: use Nashville production values and a fresh face to recreate a market for well written, fairly meaty songs in country music. It may have been better for Jessi and Sony to face facts and do what Vanguard did for Mindy Smith - stay fairly wide and clear of the Nashville sound and give these songs more of a adult alternative production. As it stands, the strong country flavor keeps away those who might like this music but hate country of any stripe.

If there is justice in this world, Ms. Alexander will get another chance on an indy label to show her talents to the world outside of mainstream country music. The CMA world has abandoned any pretense of making meaningful music like this. But there is a market for it if her music is given more contemporary non-country production values. I hope that Ms. Alexander gets that chance to find a decent size audience.

This album deserves about 3 1/2 stars (but that is not an option). It was good...the songs were mediocre...it just really sounded like she wasn't trying when she was singing these songs. It was like she wasn't exerting enough power and passion while singing. She was singing the song...nothing more. She definitely didn't give it all she had (like Carrie Underwood or Dolly Parton) and it seemed like she was holding back. In other words...when you sing...the listener wants to feel energy coming through the music...and with Jessi, I didn't feel much at all. More energy needed. Good album though (nothing great). This album is worth about $5.00 (nothing more...only less)

I guess if you were at a club and her song(s) came on, it(they) would get you out on the dance floor. But for my taste, these are so generic sound-like-every other Nashville songs, that I don't see why there have been so many favorable reviews. Where are the great (and unique) melodies?

You get a sense listening to Jessi's album that with each song you are being transported to another place, another time or another mood. Honeysuckle Sweet makes all of us smile and actually takes us along our own special "back road" in our minds. Or This World is Crazy where Jessi's soothing voice reaches out and nutures the soul, driven by a pain and sorrow she has magically transformed into the most beautiful, touching and healing melody. Or the spunky Can You Make it Feel Right, that ought to be playing on every radio in the country. The entire CD is a winner. It keeps me company far away from home and helps me find that 'back road' in my own mind. Thanks, Jess.

Jessi is great, she is of the best stuff, melodious, swinging, enchanting and so woman - the best ever.

Good debut album overall. Jessi has a good voice that can convey genuine emotion. There are good beats throughout and the writing is strong, with meaningful lyrics. A mix of uptempo and slower stuff.
Honeysuckle Sweet is a good slower song.
Make Me Stay or Go has a good uptempo beat.
World is Crazy is a soft, gentle love tune.
Run Right Back to You is about a woman hurt by a man but she'll keep taking him back anyway.
Unfulfilled has good lyrics that paint a picture well of a bleak marriage and home life. It's slow and bluesey.
Holdin Back Your Love is an appeal to a man not to act so tough and indifferent and open up to love. The backing vocals blend well.
Can You Make it Feel Right is an insightful tune addressed to a woman who has taken up with the singer's man and asks that woman if she'll ever feel secure that that man is not cheating on her with yet other women. Good guitar riffs.
Everywhere is a slow tune and kind of dull.
Reasons to Run has a gentle, quick beat and Jessi's voice is soft and effective. It's about not wanting to avoid love anymore.
Long Way is about the singer coming from a bad home and taking up with a boy to get away. Turned out to be not a good choice but things are better for the singer now, who has learned from experience. Bluesey guitar.
Canyon Prayer is a tune with religious sentiments that avoids being hokey. Nice gliding rhythm.

She's great....A lady all the way, very determined as well as charming & clever.(not to mention....lovely...) it run's in the family I guess!(Ha Ha)She has great taste in music as you can tell when you read her bio...She is going somewhere....