Favorite New (to Me) Albums of 2020: Part III

Part 3 of 5:

Owsley - Owsley (1999)

Before he embarked on a solo career, Will Owsley was the guitarist in Christian pop singer Amy Grant’s touring band.

This is, in large part, how he was able to fund the building of his home studio in Green Hills, Tennesee, where he would record his first full-length album, Owsley.

The record, which was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, is a diverse collection of charming pop songs, with influences ranging from The Beatles to The Cars. With the help of musician and engineer Millard Powers, drummer Chris McHugh, musician Jonathan Hamby, and an array of other musicians and engineers, Owsley performed a bulk of the album’s instrumentation, including all of the guitars and most of the vocals. My two favorite songs from the record are “I’m Alright” and “Sonny Boy.”

“I’m Alright” starts with a palm-muted guitar progression in the left channel, while a quiet vocal sits on the right. The drums kick in, and the guitar and vocal tracks pan to the center before the song finally erupts into its powerful chorus.

This is smart, simple, effective production.

There’s nothing particularly interesting about the lyrics, but they suggest an admirable dedication to individualism and a refusal to bend the knee to peer pressure, all of which fits the feel of the song.

There’s a bridge, comprised of a key change and a fun, squealing guitar solo, before the song dumps us back into the stripped-down verse, comprised of only guitar and vocal.

Finally, the song ends with the same powerful refrain as before, though it repeats this time, while a distorted synth plays a catchy riff on top.

The track might be one big pop cliche, but anyone who appreciates a slick production won’t be able to help but nod along.

“Sonny Boy” could have been a Ben Folds Five song, and that isn’t a bad thing.

Owsley shows off his multi-instrumentalist talent by pounding out some piano chords at the start, with an overdubbed guitar lick for good measure.

The vocal melody is smart and catchy, and musician Spencer Campbell tosses in a few smooth bass licks at just the right moments.

We get more layered guitars as we move through the first chorus and into the second verse.

I really love the bridge of this track, which is graced by what sounds like a reversed guitar track.

And then, of course, it wouldn’t be an Owsley tune without a well-written guitar solo.

There’s even a pretty, solemn outro, complete with repeating harmonized falsetto vocals as the song winds down.

The only track that didn’t grab me was “The Homecoming Song,” but the rest of Owsley is a near-perfect album, as far as I’m concerned, and I’d recommend it to anyone who appreciates solid 90s pop rock, from Ben Folds Five to Weezer and early Fountains of Wayne.

Jason Falkner - Presents Author Unknown (1996)

Jason Falkner didn’t have much luck in bands, and that’s a good thing for us, because after he left 90s power pop band Jellyfish, he would go on to release a slew of interesting music under his own name.

His first solo effort, Presents Author Unknown, was a critical success, despite its commercial failure, which Falkner blamed on a lack of promotion on the part of his label at the time.

The most notable thing about the album is that, with the exception of a few string arrangements and one guitar overdub, it was completely written, produced, and performed by Falkner, himself.

Now that’s a record any bedroom producer can get into.

Falkner covers a wide variety of moods on Presents Author Unknown, from longing to elation, from despair to relief. This is an album I could listen to all year round.

My two favorite songs from the record are “Miracle Medicine” and “She Goes to Bed.”

“Miracle Medicine” is a catchy, schizophrenic description of mental anguish.

The lyrics are clever, the vocal melody is smart, and a guitar overdub, performed by Alain Johannes, which is said to sound like buzzing bees, adds the perfect texture to Falkner’s already chaotic chord progression.

“She Goes to Bed” is the song that drew my attention to Jason Falkner.

It’s a beautiful arrangement of acoustic and electric guitars, hard-hitting drums, orchestral strings, and layered vocals.

The lyrics suggest a theme of unrequited love.

It starts off with just an acoustic guitar and a shaker, while Falkner shows off the depths of his voice.

A catchy guitar riff brings in the rest of the instrumentation, and we’re thrust into another verse.

After the verses, the strings really take over, while Falkner harmonizes vocables in the background.

Then we get an impressive guitar solo, followed by the same catchy guitar riff we heard at the beginning.

My favorite thing about this song is a section in which Falkner switches from a quadruple meter to a triple meter and back. It’s that kind of writing that challenges me as a listener and keeps me coming back for more.

I would recommend Presents Author Unknown to people who enjoy the tone of 90s rock but want to hear something with more ambition than they’d hear on the radio.

I should note that I’ve only just begun to explore the rest of Falkner’s discography, but so far it seems to live up to his reputation. Maybe one of his other albums will make next year’s list.