In the independent world this month of March 2024 will be remembered as one of the most intense of recent years.
Shane Smith and The Saints‘ wonderful new album is out after 5 years of waiting.
On the same day, March 22nd, one of the most anticipated debuts of recent years was released: Alabama Sound by the explosive Taylor Hunnicutt and the album I am about to tell you about.
Talking to you about Cody Jinks is difficult for me for only one reason: I would write another river article like the one I wrote some time ago (and which you can find here: https://www.trexroads.com/cody-jinks-texan-journey-from-heavy-metal-to-outlaw-country/) for me it is the importance that this artist had in my “musical and non-musical life”.
Thanks to Jinks, a thoroughbred Texan, today the world of American independent music is the most important and flourishing part of Stars and Stripes music.
Not only him, obviously, but Cody was the first to create a real movement that turned his back on Nashville, on the major labels and gave the public what he was looking for.
People wanted real stories and real people, not watered down to please the masses.
People wanted to recognize itself in the songs, be moved and smile with the author, feel his passion during concerts and be able to interact with the musicians.
3 years have passed since Mercy, but after listening to this Change The Game it seems like 10 have passed: the previous one was a beautiful album, this one changes everything, just as its title tells us in no uncertain terms.
Hippies & Cowboys became his anthem in 2010, here is the title track of this album, it is Cody Jinks‘ new anthem, it is a sort of second part of that piece: the club was not only created, but now it is also a point of reference for fans and artists from all over the world.
The news is that the 12-piece album was not recorded in the trusted Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, Texas, but above all it is 100% his, without even his historic manager anymore.
Produced by his bassist, Josh Thompson and Ryan Hewitt, already working on 2016’s I’m Not The Devil, the album features the participation of his historic band the Tone Deaf Hippies: pure quality.
The first track is the hard and raw testimony of the new direction: sobriety after years of whiskey.
Sober Thing is a jewel: a moving, intense ballad with Jinks‘ warm voice that delves into him and our soul.
Poignant to levels unthinkable a few years ago, a poet who turns real life into a painting.
A record in which country merges with rock and rides like Outlaws & Mustangs are born: guitars that lash the air, accompany his “outlaw” voice in a piece arranged by champions. The solo is a gem.
Fans rest assured Cody plans to always come home, just like a mustang.
His voice is as intense and powerful as ever and we hear it well in the subsequent rock ballad I Can’t Complain.
He can’t complain and it seems that now he doesn’t even care about the critical voices that made his life difficult at the beginning of his career.
The Faith No More cover, Take This Bottle, sung together with the talented Pearl Aday, seems written for this album and not only pays homage to the original, but surpasses in intensity and beauty.
Deceiver’s Blues is truly blues rock as the title says, it is one of the most surprising in terms of arrangement and rhythm: if I must say one of my favourites.
The text is so beautiful and direct as only he can write: real life, not that of Nashville glitter and awards: he lived it and he tells us so.
The solo then is of a sparkling beauty.
Another spectacular arrangement in A Few More Ghosts, where Jinks tries to escape from torments and nightmares in a piece where once again the intertwining of rhythm and guitars dominates.
Powerful sound like you’ve never heard on the records of the Texan from Fort Worth.
The title track is 100% Cody Jinks: from the text in which he proudly and forcefully claims to be the King of the Independents today, the one who really “changed the game” and who will be remembered for this and not just for his fantastic music, up to the energetic and electrifying music of a ride oscillating between country and rock.
A bit like his whole life: a little hippie, a little cowboy and even a little punk.
I Would is a ballad dominated by the bass and the rhythm, by an intense text and another super arrangement: a ballad in which the rock is cradled by the pedal-steel and flows into another beautiful solo.
Why does the public follow him? Why do people who work and struggle every day love it?
Listen to The Working Man and you will have your answer hidden in an emotional and direct ballad.
A dedication made from the heart, not by someone seeking approval, but by someone who has always been a “working class man” and not someone who went in a limousine to his shows.
Another round, another jewel solo: this time guitar and then pedal-steel.
The emotions aren’t over because in Wasted Cody Jinks gets naked and unleashes another stomach-churning ballad.
Hearing someone say that Cody is no longer a country artist is hilarious, especially after hearing one of the best country ballads of recent years.
Always Running is confessing to the world that without those who love him and are closest to him, he could not have become the musical legend that everyone knows today.
The album ends with one of the most intense and emotional songs ever written by Cody Jinks: What You Love.
The piano and then the acoustics, a voice made to excite us that sings words that give us goosebumps: so beautiful, poetic, direct.
“Don’t be afraid to sacrifice for something worthy of your life / Don’t waste your days on dreams that don’t fill you / Find out what you love and let it kill you“
It’s not just advice, it’s the true essence of a life full of difficulties, but which must be worth living.
Then the violins in the finale lead to emotion, shivers in the soul and Jinks‘ vocal performance is sensational.
A worthy conclusion to an emotional journey, a testimony of an artist who laid himself naked in front of us with his qualities and his weaknesses and leads us to recognize ourselves in his true stories.
Now there are no longer any doubts about who “changed the game” and this album is testimony to this for posterity in its poeticity and beauty.
The man who started the tsunami that American independent music is today has given us another gift: unwrap it carefully, my friends, as you would a precious jewel and then let yourself be moved by the beauty of its contents.
Thank you Mr. Jinks wholeheartedly from one who, became part of this world, thanks to you.
