(2018) Jesse Terry - Natural

Review:
Connecticut singer-songwriter Jesse Terry clearly has an impressive contacts list, Natural is his fifth album, being a collection of duets with his favourite female singers, three being new versions of tracks from the previous Stargazer.
He has a soft, breathy vocal style that variously calls to mind Paul Simon, Justin Rutledge and Paul McCartney, his music is generally relaxed and smooth, full of hummable melodies and hooks. Case in point is the first of the reworks, the dreamy, lilting strum of ‘Kaleidoscope’ (originally a rousing rocker) which, featuring ukulele and upright bass, features harmonies from Sarah Darling. Cary Ann Hearst from Shovels & Rope is next up with another revisitation, the midtempo strummed catchiness of ‘Runaway Town’. Hearst also features later in the album on the slow swaying la-la-la-ing Mountain Rose, a sweetly drifting melody for a lyric about two wounded souls finding solace together. Nashville-based singer-songwriter Liz Longley also features on two numbers, the penultimate simple acoustic lullaby Close My Eyes that sees Terry’s voice floating into higher notes, and the album’s sole cover, a summery lazing treatment of ELO’s Mr Blue Sky stripped of all the Lynne adornments to expose the tender wistfulness at its heart.
Tracklist:
01 - Kaleidoscope (feat. Sarah Darling)
02 - Runaway Town (feat. Cary Ann Hearst)
03 - Mr. Blue Sky (feat. Liz Longley)
04 - Stargazer (feat. Dar Williams)
05 - Looking Close Enough (feat. Annie Clements)
06 - Beautiful Way to Get Home (feat. Erin Rae)
07 - Carry (feat. Kim Richey)
08 - I Was an Island (feat. Kim Richey)
09 - Noise (feat. Dar Williams)
10 - Mountain Rose (feat. Cary Ann Hearst)
11 - Close My Eyes (feat. Liz Longley)
12 - Natural

Summary:
Country: USA
Genre: folk-rock, indie-folk