Across five records, Bahamas (aka Afie Jurvanen) has managed to defy any obvious classifications by sliding effortlessly in and out of genres from indie pop and R&B to folk and rock. Yet his latest, Bootcut, is bound to be his most surprising work to date for fans. The 11-track LP is the closest he has come yet to putting out a Country and Americana album; recorded appropriately enough in Nashville.
Recording there, he had access to some of the country’s most impressive musicians and took full advantage tapping Vince Gill to play guitar, pedal-steel great Russ Pahl (Kenny Rogers, Sturgill Simpson), bassist Dave Roe, harmonica great Mickey Raphael (if he’s good enough for Willie…) Sam Bush on mandolin (Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt), keyboardist Jen Gunderman (Willie Nelson, The Jayhawks), and drummer Jon Radford (Brendan Benson, Nikki Lane). “I love being the weakest link in the room, in terms of being a musician,” Jurvanen says. “I mean, I feel quite confident in what I’m able to do in any sort of musical situation, but at the same time, I never want to be the Michael Jordan in the room.”
“Just a Song,” the first proper tune on the record – after a cute one-minute conversation he has with his daughters as he’s trying to work on music – is one of the most compelling reasons to buy the record. His voice and the flow of the song sounds remarkably like Waylon Jennings on “The Wurlitzer Prize,” and the sentiment is just as memorable. It sounds like classic Country, a generation or two before the bros took over the music charts. “Working On My Guitar” has the same classic, nostalgic charm and is another early standout track. “Second Time Around,” though, a song about getting married again, lyrically sounds almost satirical and the music is dripping with cheesy over-production. There are one or two more songs on the record that never really live up to the rest of the album, but for the most part, it’s an interesting experiment with a completely new genre for Bahamas that generally pays off.
Getting the full Americana experience, Bahamas will make his Grand Ole Opry debut on September 20th followed by another first, a set at Americanafest before heading out on a U.S. tour.
