With Backstage Balladeer, Jefferson Ross has returned with a deeply personal and richly textured album that dives headfirst into themes of life, death, faith, doubt, and the tangled beauty of the American South. This time, it’s a truly solo endeavor—Ross wrote, performed, recorded, mixed, and even photographed every aspect of the project himself.
Though not a gospel record in the traditional sense, religion runs through the album like a thread of lightning. Ross wrestles with the echoes of a Pentecostal upbringing, questioning how—or if—those old beliefs can coexist with a more expansive, worldly understanding. Must we cast off the past to embrace the present, or can both live in harmony?
The album’s subject matter is vast and vividly drawn. One moment we’re in the dark inner world of a snake-handling mountain woman at the edge of despair; the next, we meet a couple founding a cult for profit, or find ourselves simply savoring the joy of tacos. The lens Ross offers is as wide as it is detailed, capturing both the extraordinary and the everyday with equal care.
Glide is premiering the video for the ever-so-compelling track “Power” by Ross, who has that authentic vocal delivery, where words and images stick with the listener, creating vibrant audio fabrics that enrich and educate.
Filmed live in the studio in Atlanta, where Ross learned how to make records. The particular SSL recording console featured in the video is where Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, and Stone Temple Pilots all used it to record some of their most iconic albums.
“My song ‘Power’ attempts to tackle a topic as old as time, yet it’s pertinent to our contemporary age. We all want power on some level. It’s hardwired into our brains. It’s how power is used, for good or ill, that defines our character. It’s the ultimate moral choice. Our most important decision,” adds Ross about the song.
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It’s like a travelogue if the main thoroughfares of life, but with the side excursions where the truly meaningful -and deeper – experiences happen that not everyone takes the time to explore.
Filmed live in the studio in Atlanta, where Ross learned how to make records. The particular SSL recording console featured in the video is where Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, and Stone Temple Pilots all used it to record some of their most iconic albums escape road free.