Jesse Winchester’s Reasonable Amount of Trouble

What does it sound like?:

You wouldn’t expect the voice to be the standout feature of an album from a bloke in remission from cancer of the oesophagus but that’s how it is with the 2014 release from Jesse Winchester.
I bought it last year but Mrs Wells has latched onto it and has it on high rotation which has prompted me to spread the word.
From his first eponymous album all the way through this fairly lethargic recording career it has always been the voice that has captivated me and many others.
He is at his best singing wistful ballads or gospel styled paeans to the simple life and simple values (Yankee Lady for example) which are punctuated, less successfully by upbeat country rock or New Orleans influences. Being in remission is the ultimate reminder that your career is drawing to a close so there are songs including some doowop harking back to his youth .But it’s always the ballads that have me just stop whatever I am doing, turn up and wonder at the gentle glory of a voice that makes me feel comforted like the warm glow. Elvis Costello organised a tribute album when he was diagnosed with cancer but to everyone’s surprise he pulled through. The big C got him in the end but not before he put this one out.
Jesse has a relatively modest catalogue – there were 5 years before this release and 10 before the one before that- excluding live albums. In one interview he said words to the effect of “if it wasn’t for my wife nagging me I’d be unlikely to even get out of bed ” so the view that his career was sabotaged by having to leave America for Canada to avoid the draft is probably misplaced. He is just as likely to have just sat on his porch strumming his guitar wherever he was. As he wrote in one of his songs he was a gentleman of leisure.
Here’s the one that “gets me” from the latest album
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQQQtDuV2fo

What does it all *mean*?

Some people are just blessed with their voices.

Goes well with…

A red wine , a whisky, a period of reflection -but don’t feel shy to press the fast forward button.

Release Date:

Might suit people who like…

A simple pure wonderful voice.

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