Published on Jul 2, 2004
For an independent artist, Taos, New Mexico-based Jenny Bird
sure has a professional reputation.
She has a discography larger than some flavor-of-the-week bands
who get dropped from a major label weeks after being signed. She
has performed with such established artists as J.J. Cale, Indigo
Girls, Blues Traveler and Sarah McLachlan. Her latest studio
release (and her seventh overall),
Joy Of It, was produced by Jerry Marotta, who himself has
quite the established name in the music industry.
So why haven’t people heard more of Bird? The answer is, I don’t
know. But after listening to
Joy Of It (which, I’m embarrassed to admit, has been lying
around the Pierce Memorial Archives for about two years now), the
major labels, in the words of Ricky Ricardo, have some ‘splainin’
to do.
Bird’s musical and vocal style evokes memories of early Joni
Mitchell mixed with a healthy dose of McLachlan and, to an extent,
Shania Twain. But the overall sound that Bird creates is all her
own, and throughout the 12 songs on this disc she shows that
acoustic pop is still alive, well and entertaining.
Tracks like “Only Sing,” “Beauty Surrounds Us” and “Fall Away”
all serve as reminders to the listener of a musical art form which
seems to have been forgotten in the past decade or so. It is rare
to hear a musician create an acoustic landscape like Bird does
throughout the course of this disc, captivating the listener with
every word. It is even rarer to see a musician doing this at or
near the top of the charts – hell, to even see them on the charts
is a miracle in and of itself. This is more of a tragedy for true
music fans than for the artists who still practice this trade.
Indeed, there is not a bad or weak track on
Joy Of It, and Bird easily makes the argument that she
should be a better-known name than her current status. If there is
any flaw with the disc, maybe it’s that I miss even the occasional
sense of urgency that can rear its head in such gentle pop music.
(One could call Bird’s style folk, but I honestly don’t believe
that label fits her music, even if Bird’s own website uses the
term.)
One can only hope that the majority of music fans abandon the
pabulum crammed down their throats by the major corporations and
return to music like Bird creates. Once that happens,
Joy Of It could well be declared an album to serve as a
roadmap for other artists. Until then, Bird remains one of this
country’s best-kept secrets. Here’s hoping that changes soon.