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 Caught in the Carousel - Music Reviews and More
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The Jonah Kit
American Songbag
Fugitive Kind
Armed with a punk rock sneer worthy of Jello Biafra and a love of traditional roots music ranging from Fred Neil to Townes Van Zandt, The Jonah Kit's Jonah Watchman is one of the most fascinating frontmen to emerge in some time. His Oakland-based trio comes with classic country instrumentation, while Watchman presides likeably over the arrangements with an almost irascible charisma. He's a strange dude for sure, and his delivery casts him as a lanky prairie iconoclast, traversing the American Heartland with a Mohawk tucked under his cowboy hat. Vibrating away through such numbers as the prickly "Rebound Shit" or the doleful "Mercy Kit," Watchman brings to each composition a real originality that's complimented by his band's studious rootsty accompaniment. He can play it pretty straight ("Uncle Cadillac," "Another") or go wild before a campfire ("I've Got Something In My Eye," "Even My Dog Done Made A Fool Outta Me"), but either way, Watchman is never dull company.
—Alex Green
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