Head Above Water
Self-Released, 2024
9/10
The Oklahoma artist Jared Deck stays true to his blue collar roots with these 10 honky tonk fueled songs that welcome Clint Pope and Jake Simpson of The Lil Smokies.
“Three Things” opens the listen with plenty of energy, where ruggedness and melody meet with plenty of country-rock flavor that recruits James Cook, and “Head Above Water” follows with some gospel influence that’s powerful and bluesy.
“Fired Up” occupies the middle spot and it’s full of Deck’s sturdy vocal acrobatics and thumping drums with a call and response via the background singers, while “Mountain Valley Road” recruits fluid acoustic guitar and soaring singing that’s anthemic and uplifting.
“Midamericana Blues” and “Songs About Love” exit the listen. The former is loud, gritty and dripping with thick songwriting and the latter is an eloquent and ebullient finish of spirited guitar and booming vocals.
It’s not hard to see parallels to Woody Guthrie in Deck’s work, and Oklahoma’s ‘red dirt music’ influence isn’t too far away either, as he finds a very heartfelt place to reside in modern Americana.
Travels well with: Shannon Vetter- Holding Pattern; Ross Cooper- Lightning Heart