Description
In 2024, when Portland songwriter Andy Jones entered the studio to record his next LP as Berkley, he had 12 songs. As the production developed with songwriter Sam Weber (Madison Cunningham) taking on a guitar/piano role, first-call session drummer Micah Hummel (Anna Tivel), LA/Portland jack of all music Tejas Leier Heyden, and the producer’s producer Gus Berry (Love Dean, Still Woozy), a clear theme developed: the myth of the American west as a lens to explore the artist’s biraciality. But then there were the other two songs….
“Gram Theft Parsons” relays the final months of songwriting legend Gram Parsons and finds a warning in the facts of the matter. “Psychic Seer” meditates on an old friendship that’s run its course and the clarity that comes with age. Both fine songs (the songwriter will tell you this set of songs is his best work yet), but not aligned with the album that would be titled Vaquero.
“There is a thread between these two songs that made them feel even more outside the pack,” Jones explains. “They both take a closer look at the individual and their rationale. They both expose a danger of losing oneself to whatever they’re committed to.”
