Kevin Kinsella – Firestick (I-Town, 2003)
Before playing this I didn’t know whether to expect some fine reggae rhythms from the leader of John Brown’s Body or simply a superfluous amount of talent. The slab draws a bit from two disparate roots musics: reggae and bluegrass/country. An odd spattering (i.e. Almost Acoustic). What we’ve got here is Ti Ti Chickapea (a jarringly atypical acoustic band) accompanying Kevin Kinsella. First, there’re alotta covers, but there’s a reason. Kinsella’s previous endeavors repeatedly reference the past and interpret it. This project is no different. He references two styles that are not considered complimentary. A talent can accomplish the melding of these two musics though. There are pitfalls, but there are also rather impressive high points. We got the traditional American folk instruments on each track. One may not expect the mandolin to mesh with the down beat style of reggae. Two similar rhythmic techniques are utilized in each music: ostensibly creating the same music with drastically different cultural backgrounds. The track “Roots Mansion” delivers, in an overly sensitive manner. Covers and more love songs follow. It appears that the lyrical content varies from John Brown’s Body. The last song, “God is in Control” is pretty interesting. Perhaps the vocals and the instrumentation end up unintentionally sounding like Elvis Costello, but Kinsella sounds urgent. He pulls it off, aiming in another direction.
