[rating=9.00]
Joe Fletcher’s come a long way since his last record, literally. He relocated from home state Rhode Island to Nashville, and he’s been on the road touring almost nonstop. His new record, You’ve Got the Wrong Man, is a kind of cataloguing of those experiences with its gritty Americana vibe. Blues guitar shows up throughout, and there’s timelessness to these sepia-tinged tunes. His first record since 2010’s White Lighter and first record without his usual band The Wrong Reasons, Fletcher has embarked on a new journey with Wrong Man.
Touring the United States will no doubt provide bountiful songwriting material, and Fletcher’s songs play out like a journaling of his travels. His Dylan-esque rasp is so expressive, we can practically feel the loneliness oozing out of it, particularly on the dark road song “Highway Roulette”. “I hear the highway callin’…then I am back home again with a teardrop in my eye”, he sings, like a classic folk troubadour, paving his way across America in search of the dream. Fletcher has a knack for capturing not only the solemnity of life on the road, but also the romance. Life on the road is painfully isolating, but also something to yearn for, something comfortable.
Recorded on a Tascam cassette four-track, there’s a hollow tinny-ness to these songs, but it adds another dimension of solitude, as though Fletcher just wandered into a big empty barn, picked up a guitar and started playing. This unique production style serves the spirit of his travelogue—and this record—so well. Wrong Man feels so deliberate and thoughtfully crafted like true, authentic roots music should be.
Fletcher’s storytelling skills have never been better, and the characters in his songs are thoroughly developed and oh so dark. “The Wilsons” is an example of this folklore style with its peculiar guitar melody getting to the heart of a crazy family. Similarly, “Florence, Alabama” is a darkly humorous love song set in a place seemingly lost in time. This is one of Fletcher’s shining vocal moments on Wrong Man, his weary, scratchy tone moving up and down steadily. “Haint Blue Cadillac” features another one of those unique guitar riffs—slightly off in the best way.
Fletcher’s chosen recording style for Wrong Man is what makes it such a special record, with all of the little flaws and imperfections exposed. It’s so intimate and allows us to experience his music in such a one-of-a-kind way. For real proof of this, just listen to “I Never (Reprise)”, a classic Fletcher song from his first record Bury Your Problems. Accompanied by a group of friends, Fletcher treats us to a fuzzy, but personal version of a favorite tune. There’s a spontaneity to it that leaves us feeling like a bunch of musicians were just hanging out, jamming together in a living room and it resulted in this reprise.
Wrong Man is not so much a departure for Fletcher as it is a homecoming. We’re left feeling like this is how his music is supposed to be heard. It’s a return to something simpler that amounts to something so much richer and a voice so much stronger.
