Jarrod Dickenson, Big Talk
If Jarrod Dickenson’s third studio album, Big Talk sounds like a mighty roar of defiance, that’s not a design choice or a marketing decision. The big Texan is settling scores all over town and he means every f*cking word. Big Talk is set to release February 3rd on Hooked Records.
Guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer, Jarrod Dickenson has entranced crowds all over Europe and the US and shared stages with such legendary artists as Bonnie Raitt, Don McLean, The Waterboys, Jools Holland, and Jimmie Vaughan. He has performed at prestigious festivals such as Glastonbury and Cambridge Folk Festival. In addition to his origin as a Texan, his current status as a Tennessee resident, and the fact that he dropped enough rent over the years to deserve to call himself a New Yorker, Dickenson is also an adopted son of Belfast. It was in the Northern Irish city where he met his wife and bandmate Claire Dickenson whose luscious, versatile vocal has become a central ingredient of his sound on stage and on record.
So what happened in the years since the release of Dickenson’s soulful sophomore long-player, Ready the Horses, to have turned this honey-voiced southern gentleman into a brawler? After a major label deal-gone-bad threatened to choke off his career, Covid complications left him with a life-long medical condition, Dickenson would have certainly been forgiven for retreating to his Nashville home to lick his wounds and maybe write a collection of introspective self-pity anthems. Instead, the hardships and infuriation of recent years have only added steel to the resolve of an artist already willing to do it the hard way, prepared to stand in the face of a music business that shows dwindling regard for the brand of artistry that first inspired him to pick up a guitar and sing for his life.
Dickenson shares his first single “Long Hard Look,” a swampy, gritty, low-down groover that asks listeners to examine themselves and how they treat those around them. “We live in an age where it seems our first instinct is to succumb to our darker nature,” says Dickenson. “We’re quick to make snap judgments about people and to attack anyone who thinks or acts differently than we do.”
Listen “Long Hard Look”
Stream/Purchase “Long Hard Look Here
Pre-order Big Talk Here
After a baptism of fire in the world of the major labels, Jarrod Dickenson now exists as a fiercely independent artist, a look that suits him well and allows his creativity to follow whatever path it damn well pleases. Nowhere is this attitude better encapsulated than in the bluesy rock and roll growl of his uncompromising new album Big Talk, released worldwide on February 3rd, 2023 via Hooked Records.
The album features the talents of Jano Rix (The Wood Brothers) on drums and keys, Ted Pecchio (Doyle Bramhall II, Tedeschi Trucks Band) on bass, JP Ruggieri on guitars, and Claire Dickenson on backing vocals. Oliver Wood of The Wood Brothers makes a guest appearance, singing on “Home Again,” and Ethan Johns (Producer – Ray LaMontagne, Ryan Adams, Laura Marling, Kings of Leon) wrote the string arrangement for the closing torch song, “Goodnight.” Together they create that unmistakable sound that only comes from the assembly of great players, in a room, having a blast. And what better way to flip the bird at those dark entities that inspired the album’s creation than to rage with such joy?
If Dickenson’s previous works have ventured a foot into the territory of rock and roll, Big Talk plants a large flag. It’s classic like Petty, gritty like Waits. There are McCartney-esque melodies and the blues get thrown down with a certain Rolling Stones swagger, and yet Jarrod Dickenson has crafted a sound that is all his own. Big Talk sounds for all the world like a man who has found his groove. Get the record, see a show, just don’t piss him off.
BIG TALK Tracklist:
1. Buckle Under Pressure
2. Born To Wander
3. Home Again (feat. Oliver Wood & Jano Rix)
4. Prefer To Lose
5. Bamboozled
6. With Any Luck
7. If You’re Looking
8. Long Hard Look
9. Don’t Deprive Me
10. Goodnight
Jarrod Dickenson website
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