CD Review: Jefferson Ross – Southern Currency
By Ritchie Ritchison for Country Music News International
Jefferson Ross is an artist. Figuratively and literally. His art decorates several cool haunts in the area around his home in Atlanta and on social media you can see it and purchase it. But as a singer/songwriter he uses a different medium. The brush strokes are made of melody and harmony instead of acrylic and oil and his canvas is made of the wide and varied landscape of the Southern US. Like his paintings his songs are layered with depth and insight and require more than one listen to gain all that is to be found amongst the 11 treasures on this disc.
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The musical styles and themes change as much as the weather on a summer day in Georgia. As each song takes you on a journey to another unique southern destination there is something in every song that is like listening to a musical travel guide. Maybe it is just the long winter talking but listening to this album makes me want to spend the entire summer on the road seeking out every last experience that Jefferson Ross has squeezed into a little under 45 minutes
Standouts in this set for me are the first single High Times in the Low Country, Baptize the Gumbo, the bluegrass tinged Two Kentucky Brothers and the King of Mississippi.
But that’s not to say the others don’t standout each in their own way. Alabama is a Winding Road and Down in Macon Georgia also deserve mention as does the title cut.
Do yourself a favor. If you want to feel the warmth of the southern sunshine, the cooling of a gentle southern breeze, smell the rain or taste the dust of a country road get up off your couch and pick up a copy of Southern Currency and listen…really listen. Listen to an artist as he paints with words and melodies 11 pictures of the heart and soul of a place as well as a way of life.
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Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars
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