While Jonathan Byrd has been quietly picking up accolades and plaudits over the past 5 years or so for his intelligent songs full of quick wordplay and strong characters, there can be few people who expected him to produce an album as distinct as ‘This is the New That’.
The opening track ‘The Cocaine Kid’ leads of the disc with real intent, the opening acoustic guitar riff gives way to an onslaught of words, percussion and bass that assaults you on the first listen and makes you sit up and pay attention to what is a wonderful 45 minutes of music and ace songwriting.
After the brilliant opening, the album settles down into more familiar singer/songwriter territory, although it’s a more pumped up and rockier version of the artist we’ve seen on his previous 3 discs.
There’s a distinctly Southern feeling to most of the 12 songs and this is definitely an album with obvious folk/roots connections; this subtle link with American tradition adds a huge amount to the songs, and it serves to give the places and characters in the stories more depth and helps the listener relate to the narrative.
On his more traditional singer/songwriter discs Byrd is an exceptional flat-picking guitarist, but this album shows him to be a versatile and skilled player at a variety of styles, and he and his excellent band of Rob McMaken, Andrew Reissiger and Jeff Reilly have put a natural and organic sounding album with some great musical touches.
Amongst the influences he lists in the liner notes are Bob Dylan, Anais Mitchell, Merle Haggard and finally George W Bush, who seems to bring an endless supply of grist to the folk songwriting mill, and is the target of the stunning ‘The Cocaine Kid’, which is obviously the real standout here. Other notable tracks are the beautiful ‘The Cold & Hungry Night’, the hooky Country-rock of ‘Colleen’ and the excellent closer ‘Jacks’.
To add to what is an already exceptional package, pop the disc into a PC and exclusive content, including MP3s of 3 superb songs not on the album, a screen saver and desktop wallpapers are made available.
Byrd’s albums have always been a departure from the previous release, and the direction he chose this time has resulted in a stunning album, and a cast iron future classic. Unmissable!

Track listing
1 The Cocaine Kid
2 Colleen
3 Jesus was a Bootlegger
4 Hank
5 Sexy Jessie
6 Austin Women
7 The Cold & Hungry Night
8 Learn to Rock 'n' Roll
9 Amelia, My Dream
10 I Want You
11 The Bishop & The Ghost of the Nazarene
12 Jacks

£13.49