Jackopierce

Promise of Summer

Foreverything Records

 
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After more than 10 years, Dallas-based Jackopierce just released a new album.  It’s evident on Promise of Summer that the acoustic-folk duo, composed of Jack O’Neill and Cary Pierce, still can write charming, minimalist campfire songs of lost love.  In a time when plain ol’ guitar playing is taking a backseat to those making music on their laptops, it’s nice to know that singer-songwriters aren’t afraid to put out an album like this.  Adoring fans are glad to see that Jackopierce hasn’t thrown in the towel after 20 years, but the album may not have enough substance or spark to garner any new fans.

Authentic folk artists O’Neill and Pierce always have been great storytellers.  Some of their classics, such as “Jacob”, “Valencia”, and “Three of us in a Boat”, are good examples of how they use a prose-style, narrative approach to songwriting. The result is that listeners can hear and understand the story behind the songs without much metaphorical mystery.  The pair’s guitar-playing is fairly vanilla, so their lyrics and vocal harmonies take the stage.

Promise of Summer definitely speaks to that quality. The album is an 11-track ode to the excitement and desperation unavoidably bound to summer love.  Something about the release date – Sept. 9 of this year – combined with the theme summer seems a bit odd.   Perhaps it’s intended to magnify the sadness that summer lovers are feeling right about now.

The hopeful title track tells of a couple who fell in love at first sight over a bonfire. “Not Around” is a girl-that-got-away tune, and so is “Come on July”, but the latter is far better, with lovely vocal harmonies and soft guitar. It begins at the end of a day and the end of a love: “The sun went down, the shadows split the trees / The stars ran out, a black sky fell and swallowed everything”. It’s smooth and sweet summertime saltwater taffy.

The duo decided to, once again, re-record “March”, a heartrending wartime song from their 1991 self-titled debut. The tune also is found on Live from the Americas (1993) and Decade (1997).  It’s a beautifully written song that takes on new meaning and relevance to listeners as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq continue. 

Overall, Promise of Summer highlights the boy-next-door qualities of Jackopierce. It’s not exciting, innovative or all that complex. But sometimes, reliability really hits the spot.  

– Karie Meltzer