Pistol River Records 0001

Tracks: Blue As I / Long Time Gone / Lonely Prisoner / Pistol Pete / I’ll Be Around Somewhere / Lonely Path Of Cold / This Old Farm / Lonesome Timber / Till I Come Back Again / Better Days / The Old Guitar / Don’t Be Surprised

This twelve track CD, of all original material is the first solo release by Curtis Jones. The sleeve notes tell me he is from Atlanta, was a member of the Schankman Twins Band, and currently fronts a band called Lonesome Timber. Apart from that I don’t know anything about him.

The musicians featured here are Curtis Jones, guitar, mandolin, lead and baritone vocals; Shawn Lane (fiddle, tenor and harmony vocals); Tim Stafford (guitar, tenor and baritone vocals); Dan Tyminski and Duane Compton (mandolin); Donica Christensen and Alison Brown (banjo) and Terry Holland, Missy Raines and Dave Webb (bass).

The last track features the Schankman twins, Dana on lead and Lauren Schankman on harmony. The well known names are Tim Stafford (Blue Highway and Union Station), Shawn Lane (Blue Highway), Dan Tyminski (Lonesome River Band and Union Station) and Missy Raines, who seems to play on everybody’s CD’s at the moment. Curtis Jones, as a songwriter, is very good. Curtis Jones as a flatpick guitarist is brilliant. Curtis Jones as a singer is only average. His voice is strong enough to be part of a group, such as Blue Highway, which features more than one singer, but on a CD lasting over 50 minutes tends to be a bit ‘samey’. But because he is surrounded by good harmony singers he gets away with it.

Curtis Jones
Photo © D.Brandon and NWBN

Despite these comments, this is quite a decent CD. The one instrumental track, Pistol Pete, is 4½ minutes of pure guitar magic. It really is brilliant. The pick of the vocals are Long Time Gone, with good harmony vocals from Tim Stafford and Shawn Lane plus nice banjo lead backup and This Old Farm - a strong message song, again with good harmonies and nice mandolin. Lonesome Timber has a lively banjo intro and a nice plaintive vocal. Better Days and The Old Guitar are also very good. The last track, which as I said earlier features the Schankman twins, is an excellent song, probably the best one on the CD. It demonstrates how good a band member Curtis Jones is playing mandolin, guitar and singing baritone too.

This is a nice gentle first CD by Curtis Jones, who shows a lot of potential, especially in his songwriting. All in all, well worth a listen.

Ivon Evans, Pallion, Sunderland.

Notes: Curtis Jones is currently with Bluegrass, Etc.

6th Sept 1999