Sound-color synesthesia is when a certain sound causes you to see things in a certain color. I don’t have it, but I experience a related effect when I listen to the latest from Portland, Oregon, based Jenny Don’t & the Spurs. It’s called Broken Hearted Blue and evokes the washed-out, slightly sepia-toned tint of an old Hollywood western. The album is all original compositions, but they’re awash in 60’s-style fuzzy guitars applied to old-school country music lyrics and Jenny’s wide-ranging powerhouse vocals.
Take Jealous Heart as an example. It’s what it would have sounded like if Dick Dale had done a country song about the emotion “burnin’ within me.” Self-awareness is also featured in a twangy, outlaw country number, Pain In My Heart, about knowing how poorly you’ve treated someone, but hoping they understand you really do love them. Speaking of twangy, Telecaster and pedal steel are front and center on You’re What I Need. It’s a heart-felt love song to all the band’s fans and an admission the band might not still be around if it weren’t for the unconditional support they get when they’re on the road.
Besides the cowpunk twang that threads through the record, there are plenty of nods to the early roots rockers. One More Night is garage band country music, with a shout-out to CCR when Jenny sees the “bad moon rising”. My Baby’s Gone starts with a Bo Diddley beat and guitar riff before exploding into a Buddy Holly inspired chorus, all of it in a mere two-and-a-half minutes. Those various styles get layered into the title track, a stylized romantic tale about meeting a stranger in the backdrop of “desert heat and sagebrush sweet.” The musical textures get stacked even higher on Bones In the Sand. It’s more western than country in an ode to overcoming tragedy where you “gotta keep the beat even when it hurts.”
Jenny Don’t started her musical career as a take-no-prisoners punk rocker. But as she started to write her own songs, they somehow ended up with a country flair. Some of her fellow punkers became the Spurs, including life and musical partner, bassist Kelly Halliburton. Together they forged a reverb-laden twang sound that brought them more bookings than the punk music. They haven’t looked back since, but they kept the DIY aesthetic with Jenny showcasing her sewing talents in the band’s clothes and guitarist Christopher March proudly detailing the vintage electric guitars and accessories used for each song. You can hear all of that passion in their music, and Broken Hearted Blue is a great start to discovering Jenny Don’t & the Spurs.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.