Press/Reviews
The best way to describe the sound of the new album from Memphis guitar troubadour Jake Lear is to call it “electric folk blues.” The self-produced album of eight new songs and two covers has a raw, wide open, rough around edges sound. Lear prefers to plugged straight in and strum his Stratocaster, and talk sing his way through the songs evoking early sixties Dylan and the Stones. The taught rhythm section of Roy Cunningham (drums) and Carlos Arias (bass) offer a study in groove discipline and economy as they seamlessly navigate each track with precision, offering exactly what is needed. The most memorable tracks include the deliberate dark march of “Strange Things,” and the swampy blues of the title track, where Lear gives us the simple truth of an every man’s philosophy “some days your rich, some days your poor and all alone.” The Junior Wells staple “Work Work Work,” is given a hot roadhouse two beat treatment that is simply fun and infectious. The instrumental Texas surf rock track “Boogie Time,” feels like a little added bonus as it ends the album with flair. Jake Lear should garner some new fans with his Diamonds and Stones.
Rick J Bowen - No Depression
“Diamonds and Stones,” is an amalgam of muddied roots reverb, Mississippi hill country stomp, and tasty nuanced grooves. Lear’s a new-school bluesman that celebrates his elders, yet has a sound completely his own.”
FROM ELMORE MAGAZINE:
Jake Lear opens his latest album, Lost Time Blues, with a big, wide-open, shake-the-walls drum groove, announcing the start of a blues/rock cornucopia that excites at every turn.
Lost Time Blues was recorded almost entirely live, with minimal overdubs. The result is a hard-nosed sonic sound with a spontaneous energy. According to Lear, he attacked the album with a disjointed approach, aiming for everything from “barrel house bar band to country or folk blues,” and achieves his goal. The album is a vibrant and consistent listening experience.
The lively, groove-inducing, guitar jam of “Streets of Michelangelo” sounds like something the Black Crowes might have concocted around 1992, while the acoustic, Dylan-esque “Ragged and Dirty” wouldn’t have been out of place on the Rolling Stones’ Beggars Banquet. Lear also works the acoustic angle well on “Muddy Water,” where his folk influences really come through.
The Stevie Ray Vaughan inspired Texas boogie “Sure Gonna Miss You” is a standout track that absolutely stings with its guitar venom. The lightning-striking-a-juke-joint feel continues with the raucous “Sometimes” before wrapping up the album with the delicate, nimble-fingered slow blues of “Bluebird.”
Lost Time Blues is the perfect marriage of Highway 61 Revisited and Texas Flood. The elements that made those two albums classics are alive in Lear’s music and blend into a fresh, expressive, musical vocabulary.
Elmore Magazine
FROM BLUES REVUE:
On his sophomore album, the self released Lost Time Blues, JAKE LEAR shows a lot of character, stricking an effective balance between the classic sounds of artists such as Eddie Taylor and post- Stevie Ray Vaughan tones, adding a healthy dose of rough – hewn, Dylanesque country blues attitude. On the steady-rolling title track and the ballad “Boogie Woogiw Woman,” it sounds like the upstate New York-based guitarist has kept Modern Times in rotation; the focus; is his pleasantly craggy vocals. Lear hits hard but keeps his playing simple and direct on Guitar Slim-inspired “Sometimes,” the shuffles “Blues 3 Ways” and “Sure Gonna Miss You,” and the roots rocker “Leave This Town.”
FROM BLUES MATTERS:
In once sense, Jake Lear offers nothing different to the greater majority of upcoming acts on the Blues scene. How many times have we caught an earful of the supposed next Stevie Ray or new Freddie King only to be left distinctly disappointed? With “Lost Time Blues”, his second in a short space of time Lear however offers something that a lot of his peers fundamentally fail to achieve: he manages to live up to and do justice to the legends that he claims to draw influence from. In fact, one listen of opener ‘Streets Of Michelangelo’ brings the listener back to the heydays of hearing SRV’s ‘Couldn’t Stand The Weather’ for the first time, while ‘Leave This Town’ urges to be played in a dimly lit, whiskey stenched Mississippi juke joint. The key to paying homage to your inspirations is the skill of placing your own twist on the influence in question, whilst retaining the primary sound they were so well known for. Lear’s twist on the Texas Blues sound arrives in the form of an underlying folky tone, particularly apparent on standout tracks ‘Ragged And Dirty’ and ‘Bluebird’. With an abundance of guitarists hitting the Blues world in 2009, aiming to be the next Bonamassa, it’s becoming somewhat difficult to sort the best from the rest. Judging by this latest release however, Jake Lear is a name to keep an eye out for. Lost Time Blues? Hopefully not…