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Paul Edelman and the Jangling Sparrows
North American & Susquehanna
Independent Release
By Marianne Ebertowski
 I haven't heard too
many albums so far this year that really broke my heart and gave
me goose bumps, but North American & Susquehanna by
Paul Edelman and his Jangling Sparrows, self-released and packaged
in what looks like brown wrapping paper, certainly did. Everything
about this album may be low budget, but nothing is cheap. It
is, in fact, the most stunningly beautiful piece of "Cosmic
American Music" this reviewer has come across since the
golden times of Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt.
So, who the hell is Paul Edelman? Well, I don't know too much
about him, apart from the fact that he's a Philly resident since
he was 18 and that he used to be in various bands of the Philadelphia
roots rock scene. He was in Naked Omaha where he shared duties
on lead and rhythm guitar and lead and harmony vocals with another
singer/guitarist, depending on who wrote the songs. Edelman was
also in the Boxcars where he played bass and shared harmony duties,
and he played banjo in a bluegrass band called Butcher Holler
Boys.
Paul Edelman has a soulful country voice: warm, passionate
and a bit nasal somewhere in between Gram Parsons and Jay
Farrar - and his impeccable songwriting shows the same credentials.
Maybe his individual talent would have passed by unnoticed, had
he not used his valuable studio time with the Boxcars to play
some of his acoustic songs to producer Edan Cohen. Cohen (of
"Songs: Ohia" fame) liked what he heard, offered to
produce him and that's the way North American and Susquehanna
came about. With a little help from his old bandmates (Dan Roberts
on drums and stand up bass, Dan Deleon on electric guitar, Matt
McGrath on electric guitar and mandolin, Amber D'Laurantis on
keyboards) along with Beth Case of She Haw on back ground vocals
and Mike "Slo Mo" Brenner on pedal steel, Edelman created
just the right sound to surround his sad, but catchy, songs.
This is the sort of album you don't want to get out of your
CD player's slot and every time you play it, it gets better and
more addictive. Every song crawls under your skin and stings,
even the more rootsy rocking stuff like "Names of the Trains"
or the opener "Ode to an Illinois Lawyer," the sad
story of a trucker's son turned lawyer whose life is not really
taking off like he expected. The darker side of human nature
inspires Edelman's lyrics. With every song he proves to be a
patient, careful and skilled, though sometimes enigmatic lyricist.
His songs are small universes populated by lonely and lost characters
whose stories are told with compassion and sensitivity against
a backdrop of jangling guitars, mournful pedal steel, pumping
organ, lonesome accordion and sometimes just acoustic guitar.
Edelman's harmonies with Beth Case are breathtakingly beautiful
("Lead Me Out," "Thumb Me Down") and when
he is just accompanying himself on acoustic guitar ("When
It's Gone"), he sings his heart out in a way that could
raise the dead.
North American & Susquehanna is a compelling collection
of disarmingly beautiful and intimate songs. A low-key modest
masterpiece by a talented singer-songwriter of whom I expect
great things to come. I hope it won't take Paul Edelman too much
time to get noticed outside of Philly. Some lawyer from Illinois
or elsewhere should negotiate a decent record deal for this guy!
Magnificent, seductive stuff!
For information, contact Paul Edelman at: jangleoff-at-yahoo.com
Contact Marianne Ebertowski at ebertowski-at-rockzilla.net
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