Jimmyriggers - I Stand in the Weeds

  by Andrew Carver

published: 23 / 4 / 2011

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Review

Montreal’s the Jimmyriggers follow a familiar path in Canadian music, melodic and harmony friendly roots rock practised by acts like Blue Rodeo, the Skydiggers and the Cash Brothers, as well as international acts like the Jayhawks and Son Volt. Things get off to a jangly start with ‘Sleepwalking’, and from there the trio of Andre Kirchhoff, David Pearce and R.D. Harris take a settled pace through a baker’s dozen of tunes. Fans of steel guitar will enjoy producer Rick Haworth’s flourishes on ‘Lay Me Over The Water’. The other producer Mark Goodwin also contributes on a wide variety of stringed instruments, ranging from plain old six-string guitar to cello, as well as some kalimba, and Eric Lemoyne adds organ to a few tracks. Lemoyne also kicks some jaunty accordion into the mix on the bouncy, Cajun-flavoured ‘I’m Gonna Make Her Mine’. Things turn more electric on ‘Jack The Fatalist’, which is reminiscent of the Dream Syndicate’s more rambunctious work, as well as Steve Wynn’s solo efforts. ‘One Man Divided’ slows things down, with some melancholy violin and more steel guitar flavouring the down-and-out protagonist’s tale of woe. ‘I Stand in the Weeds’ being a country album at heart, there’s also a song featuring a hanging (at least in theory, since it’s an instrumental), ‘Count Your Blessings Before the Hangman Cometh’, which features an extended violin passage from Goodwin. The fuzzy ‘Modern Warfare’ serves up a love-is-war metaphor, and for the rest of the album the band shifts from the upbeat - including a cover of the Rolling Stones’ ‘Connection’, to the pensive and gloomy. A sharply produced effort, ‘I Stand In The Weeds’ should appeal to anyone with a taste for the Paisley Underground or the No Depression scenes.

Track Listing:-

1 Sleepwalking
2 Half In Shadow
3 Lay Me Over the Water
4 I'm Gonna Make Her Mine
5 Jack The Fatalist
6 One Man Divided
7 Count Your Blessings Before The Hangman Cometh
8 Modern Warefare
9 Rattle My Cage
10 Connection
11 Thieves & Beggars
12 The Twenty-Seventh of December
13 I Stand In The Weeds