Jeanne Jolly is one of North Carolina's best kept secrets, because I should've heard about her before last month. When not harmonizing with Phonte at Foreign Exchange shows, she leads an impressive career as a solo artist. Her gentle, yet powerful, southern sweet tea voice is reminiscent of folksy Jewel at times with a hint cowpunk Mary Prankster. Whether performing her original songs or covering country, blues, Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, or Whitesnake, Jeanne sounds beautiful. I bet she could even make Rebecca Black's "Friday" sound good.
The way Jeanne Jolly holds and plays her guitar fascinates me. Guitar players I've seen, hold and strum the instrument with ease, showing their command and total dominance of a lifeless, inanimate object. Jeanne, on the other hand, handles her guitar with care, as if it is a delicate baby that weighs a ton. Each strum and pick takes effort like gravity is reversed and working against her. There is such weight and significance behind each note. I could be wrong about all this, and her weak ass just needs to hit the gym.
You know, James Taylor wasn't born in North Carolina. He doesn't even fucking live in North Carolina. So why is his song "Carolina in My Mind" the unofficial anthem of North Carolina?! It's time for an update! From a true daughter of North Carolina who lives in North Carolina, Jeanne's "Falling in Carolina" should be North Carolina's NEW unofficial anthem.
No comments:
Post a Comment