Feb 15th, 2010
Been thinking about Lorne Jones a lot lately (No, not in that way - come on now!!). The man is an awesome
talent in so many ways, and he is the only one who seems not to realise it. I mean, I suspect if you asked Lorne, the thing he would be most proud of would be his guitar work, and for sure he is one hell of a picker (just listen to Tugboat Breakdown on the first album), but he is so much more than that.
I'm not sure if song writing comes easy to Lorne, but I suspect it does. The man can write a magical set of lyrics in less time that it takes many men our ages to have sex. And the variety of writing styles he is comfortable with is nothing short of astounding.
Among my favourites are his tongue in cheek songs, songs that he sings and sings well, and you can hear the joy and laughter in his voice as he sings them.
But then at the flip of a switch inside his brain, out comes a touching love song, a tale of tragedy on the open seas, or just a happy, tap your toes type of ditty.
Lorne is totally unpredictable in his song writing, and that is as it should be, because this man is above all his own man, and that is what makes him as interesting to listen to as it does.
Many of Lorne's musical heroes are from the outlaw country school of performing, (think David Allen Coe among others) and again on many of his songs that is readily apparent.
It amazes me that Lorne does not appreciate how pleasing and unique his voice is - he always seems prouder when he hears someone else do his songs, and of course in some cases, as with Henry and Jess, he has reason to be because they are on a different level vocally, and seem able to interpret Lorne's songs in a way that brings them to life in a way that few others could.
Having said that, however, Lorne has a fine voice, a voice that suits his style, and his songs. He just sings, and he sings from his heart, and it makes him feel good, and it makes others who hear him feel good as well.
The word on the street is that there may well be a video of an unreleased song on this site before too long, and folks, I gotta tell you, if and when it pops up here, you will see Lorne at his best, having a lot of fun with a fun song. The song is hilarious, rarely do I hear it without tears of laughter dripping down my cheeks - the top ones of course, and Lorne's vocals compliment the song perfectly.
As you no doubt have figured out by now, these Tidbit things are basically random thoughts, written as they occur to me, which is all fine and good, until perhaps one evening after several barrels of Budweiser, at which point the random thoughts would likely be enough to have be legally committed. I will trust my Linda wife to keep me away from the computer on those not so rare evenings.
The next Tidbit's, unless anything pops into my head before then, will be a discussion of the various songs on Lorne’s first album, and how they affect me as a listener, a fan, and a man person.
P.S. - One final thought - Many people are attracted to a song because they enjoy the lyrics. I myself have always been more attracted to the words....