Album Review: Jelly Roll- Whitsitt Chapel
I was in middle of going through the remaining fifteen albums on The Backlog list. As a big and buzzy mainstream release, Whitsitt Chapel was obviously in the list. Most of my thoughts were crystallized earlier this year when I first heard it, but as I found myself giving it another spin, the paragraphs quickly began piling up. After eight hundred words and no end in sight, I decided that it needed a solo post. Here is the overview. Work on The Backlog continues apace, albeit slightly behind schedule now.
Hope you enjoy this dive into a complex and intriguing album,
Joe
Jelly Roll- Whitsitt Chapel
Mainstream country/ alternative rock/ hip hop
Jelly Roll (nom de plume of Jason DeFord) has a well documented and complicated life story/ career path. Sometimes it feels like the massive personality and life arc of Jelly Roll overtakes his actual musical output. At this point, it seems unnecessary to point out his long career as a hick-hop artist and his subsequent turn to rock and then country. However, it is required to enable digestion of this project. I have seen critiques of this album for its overly synthetic arrangements. Although typically I agree that deep topics are best explored organically, the bombast and heft of the synthetic drums and wailing guitars fits with the larger than life persona and storytelling methods of hip hop. Jelly Roll is a seasoned veteran of hip hop and even with a genre shift, that style of narrative presentation is still a big part of what he offers as a musician. For example, the wordplay inherent to that genre is on full display here- see songs like Nail Me with its usage of mixed metaphors to great delight and efficacy.
Most of what is explored here falls into the deep and existential angst side of things. It is material he has spent nearly a decade exploring in various manners. Unlike much of his hip hop material, the angst here is presented as being more past focused. The demons have been outrun, but you can’t outrun them fully. The consequences of the past is shown in a deep and resonant fashion in Behind Bars. The effect of the past on the current psyche is shown in Unlive and The Lost. Religious imagery is thickly interwoven throughout the album in a way which doesn’t feel stapled on. Jelly Roll attributes faith to leading him forward and it comes through genuinely on the project. This isn’t a prosperity gospel, an endlessly positive kind of faith being displayed here. Faith is displayed in all its aspects that Jelly relates to; positive and negative, theology vs followers, certain vs shaky, organized vs spontaneous etc. The interspersed snippets of a fire and brimstone preacher surprisingly doesn't feel like a gimmick. Instead, it clearly plants an image of the homespun and intense style of preaching and worship the Jelly Roll seemingly finds himself connecting to.
Thank you for reading Today I Heard. This post is public so feel free to share it.
There is an argument within religious traditions about what the best way to attract outsiders (whether lapsed members of the tradition, or converts). Some posit that emphasizing the more genteel aspects of the religion, the universal beliefs and the softer side is what attracts the youth and the wayward. Others believe that what is needed is to strongly demonstrate the differences and alternative of a faith based life. “If a faith based life is only 5% different then a “secular” way of life, what is the attraction?,” they ask. I am not going to adjudicate such a dispute. To be honest, I wouldn’t even know where to start. I’ve only seen this example of divergent marketing strategies pop up in marketing strategy dialogue. To my ears at least, it seems Jelly Roll has embraced a more muscular “old school” style congregation, if the clips are meant to be an indication of his preferred service style. Sometimes intensity and strength of conviction is what attracts one to change his life. From the extreme tones and harsh language of the project (as well as past projects) it seems that he has lived a hard knocks life that has had deep impacts on his soul and emotions. It doesn't surprise me that the key to change was a clearly divergent path via a hard knocks style approach to faith that provided a sharp contrasting path for his soul and emotions. Basically, it seems he finds himself in the second camp. This is not me expressing any approval or disapproval of any faith traditions approach, merely observing via a dispassionate marketing lens what seems to have been the catalyst for his personal story, at least per the words of the artist himself. I found it intriguing enough that it felt necessary to remark on
The themes make for a very real listen, albeit one that perhaps is stretched in certain places musically and thematically. There’s really two or three ideas being juggled throughout this project. Namely the personal relationship of Jelly to his faith and finding himself. Then you have the Jelly and the anonymous girl songs (Save Me, Hungover in a Church Pew). These are also laden with religious imagery to the point where it can be hard to figure out if this is a God song or a Girl song. To be fair, maybe that’s the point. The confusion of Jelly’s relationship with God and his self conscious admission that he tends to relate to the divine most in cases of desperation (Need a Favor) shows that in a way, his religious desperation is intermingled with his personal desperations. Human and relatable. The confusion adds to the relatability even as it muddies the waters of the album and prevents a clean and easy read of the album. Interspersed within all this, are some small town testimonials (She is a powerful and frightening example of this). They all overlap in places, but it can be tricky to piece together. Broader themes emerge with a wider lens. The ideas of despair, salvation, and the outcast, all feature prominently throughout and are the common denominator regardless of which of the three main settings is being focused on at a given moment.
Some of his attempts at country crooning don’t land well. Even with the occasional over extension of vocal capability, the album does a remarkable job portraying and emoting. It’s a classic example of how histrionics are not the most important thing in a vocal delivery. The arrangements, as stated prior, are heavily synthetic and have mainstream gloss. However, I think that by and large, the choices made are suitable for the songs and sufficient grit is maintained to not feel foreign to the hip hop, alternative rock, and mainstream country inspired fusion of the project. Gritty vocals provide a nice contrast with the smooth instrumentals, but the grit is allowed to come through and dominate the mix when needed. At least most of the time, the balance is well kept. Maybe a couple songs should have been left on the chopping block, but Nashville likes bloat. By no means does it drag though. Even with the technical quibbles, I easily see why this has been so hyped. I also could see how one would be merely intrigued by the concept of the record then actually enjoy the execution. It zags when you’d expect it to zig and does stumble in places. However, I firmly land on the side of it working well overall. Mainstream country has needed an infusion of fresh perspective for a while now, and between Jelly Roll and the Appalachian scene busting out big this year, it has got that in spades.
I’d say my favorite songs are Nail Me, The Lost, Unlive, and She. Need A Favor and Save Me are nearly there but just a tick short of those four. There’s really only a couple songs that didn’t work for me. Halfway To Heaven works as an introduction, but it doesn't have the unique legs to stand on its own as a song. A similar issue bedevils Dancing With The Devil, except here it is the precise opposite issue. As a song it is quite solid, but its placement at the end of the album means that it needs to add more to the narrative that has already been sketched over the previous forty plus minutes and it falters there, not adding enough new information to make it feel necessary.
Fin.
Joe
ncG1vNJzZmisn5muurXHnpirnF6owqO%2F05qapGaTpLpwvI6ao5utnWK%2FpsLInq5mopWhubp50aijpWWnnba1v8itqw%3D%3D