Mason Jennings’ most recent effort is the 2008 album In The Ever. I cannot speak for his previous releases, as this is the first I’ve heard, but so far as I know this guy’s work is pretty special.
He has this laidback, hippy-esque vibe going on. The music primarily consists of acoustic guitar, piano, a little bit of drums, and his vocals. It isn’t a particularly complicated formula, but he pulls it off quite well. Off the top of my head, the closest comparisons I can draw are to the likes of Jack Johnson and Keaton Simons.
Although I’ve only recently discovered Mason Jennings, it’s pretty easy to do a bit of research on him. He’s based out of Minneapolis, and In The Ever is his sixth album, released in 2008 from Brushfire Records (ironically, Brushfire is owned by the aforementioned Jack Johnson). He has previously toured for his 2006 album Boneclouds, opened for Guster on their Winter 2007 tour, and performed two Bob Dylan songs for the movie I’m Not There.
In the Ever occupies a special place in my music-loving heart. For me, the album isn’t just collection of songs. Rather, it is a special memory. This occurred in a rather roundabout, counter-intuitive way. It involved the Austin City Limits music festival, happenstance, and a healthy dose of luck. Allow me to explain.
I attended this year’s Austin City Limits, at which various alternative rock groups perform. One of my friends convinced me to drop by this guy Mason Jennings’s concert. I was just killing time, waiting to see Iron and Wine, so we moseyed on over (mosey, by the way, is a quite accurate description of how everyone moves at ACL). I’m glad we did, because what followed was one of the best concerts I’ve ever attended.
Mason Jennings came on stage at 6:30 and proceeded to calmly, effortlessly rock my world for the next forty-five minutes. His stage performance is strikingly similar to the studio recording – most artists will play a little rougher, or simplify hard parts or not quite get the balance right. There were no such problems here. He played through In The Ever like nobody’s business, and had the audience in something of a trance. We all swayed a bit to the music, many performed impromptu, individual dances, and everyone left with stupid grins on their faces.
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