Down in Happy Holler on March 9, on a night when folks had their choice of legends like the Pixies at the Tennessee Theatre and Dropkick Murphys at the Mill & Mine, a capacity crowd full of happy, hearty folks were packed in and fired up at the Outpost. And after boogieing down to opener Blond Bones’ bouncy, fun blend of indie, surf, punk, jazz and folk, they began buzzing excitedly in anticipation of the main act, the group for which they’d forgone all those other earthly musical pleasures available downtown on this balmy Saturday.
Then the man of the hour stepped out onstage with a million-dollar smile on his face. Taylor Kress strapped on his guitar, thanked the crowd for being there for the release of his band Jubal’s highly anticipated third full-length album, “County Ball” – the first full-band effort for the folk project – and the band ripped into the first number.
The new version of Jubal boasts a three-piece horn section (Joe Booth, Joe Jordan and Chuck Mullican), the talents of Jake Smith on spaced-out electric guitar, Luke Bowers (whom folks may recognize from ethereal folk-rock outfit Cereus Bright) on drums and Jasmine Hoisington on bass. The new lineup aptly accompanies Kress’ songs, which have opened up over time with bigger progressions, hooks and more universal lyrical themes. Time on the road – Jubal has spent much of the last year testing the songs around the country – seems to have congealed the lineup and helped it perfect the arrangements.
The past incarnation of Jubal on albums “Bloodroot” (2015) and “Warm Regards” (2017) featured primarily the subtle fingerpicking and gentle, warmly intertwining vocals of Kress and former partner Bonnie Simmons, a sound that won them many fans in the area. In the “Warm Regards” era, they began to add extra musicians more often and started to tour out of town. But as has been mentioned and referenced in other pieces, once the band chose to focus on touring, Simmons made the decision to move on from the project.
In her absence, the arrangements have been rocked up a bit more, and Kress has been forced by necessity to stretch his vocals and articulate more. His individual voice has become more developed, idiosyncratic and bigger as a result.
“The vocal part not having the harmonies kinda forced me … I learned a lot,” he says.
His songs have become a little bigger, too, more focused to project out with the idea and plan of coming up over the band and the beat to the larger audience that he’s now reaching.
“How Some Things Fall,” with which the band ended the set, may be the most powerful, sharp and hooky song on the album. “Chardonnay” and “Through the Shades” are very strong tracks, as well. As Kress mentioned during the Outpost show and in Jubal’s interview with BLANK, songs like “In the Time of Romans” and “Again to Kansas” are actually several years old.
Guitarist Jake Smith produced “County Ball,” as well as the recent stripped down “Peso Tapes.” “It was our first swing at doing the thing on our own,” he says. “It was humbling to say the least, but I think we made a decent product … We honestly didn’t think it would work, but we think it turned out pretty good.”
“It was fun to pick the songs for the record,” Kress continues, mentioning that some are old Jubal songs that have been re-worked, re-written and slipped in with the new ones. “The songs themselves, lyrically, kind of track over seven years, honestly … The songs kind of stand through a number of different relationships and different periods of my life.”
“It’s interesting, too, [that] Taylor’s done that song “Again to Kansas” on three different albums,” Smith adds. “So that one particularly has been interesting to me as it’s evolved.”
In the near future, the band appears to be poised for more touring around the country behind the new album. Smith and Kress made another appearance at the Outpost later in March opening for Pale Root at that band’s own album-release party. Jubal will be performing at Rhythm ‘N’ Blooms in early May, and soon Kress and Smith will hit some big-city dates in New York and Philadelphia doing the “Peso Tapes” acoustic material. They feel that the road can be hard, but also that it refines them.
“We’ve definitely been paying some dues the past six months or so … We’ve definitely played our fair share of empty, weird rooms,” Smith laughs. “We’ve definitely found our sound by doing that,” Kress adds.
Assuming the group continues on its current trajectory and Kress continues to build upon the improvements he’s made with regard to his songwriting ability and performing prowess, there doesn’t seem to be any reason why Jubal couldn’t be making big splashes in the Americana world and continuing to rise.
“We’re still recording,” Smith says. “We’re keeping it rolling for sure.”
