J.P. Whipple
Moab
Self-Released
Street: 12.15.14
J.P. Whipple = Hectic Hobo + Tom Waits

My favorite thing about country-folk music is the unfailing ability of the artists within the genre to express a shared American experience by profoundly simplistic means. J.P. Whipple and backing band Tycoon Machete make fundamentally simple, sweet tunes, and every word cuts deep to the impressions we share only with those closest to us. This album covers a wide variety of subject matter. “Expectations” and “What Would You” are melancholy, twangy and sincere. Slow, twangy slide guitars and a rolling piano sound like an articulation of silently weeping. Warbly vocals and swooning acoustic instrumentation portray one singing drunkenly into a guitar. On the other end of the spectrum, “Funeral for Family Dinner” is humorous and bouncy with bar piano abound—I’m sure anyone can relate to this description of a family reunion. From politics to love and family, Moab touches on incredibly relatable material, while sounding like it was played on the ridge of a red rock. J.P. Whipple encompasses what it means to be a human of the West. –LeAundra Jeffs