It’s not unusual for musicians to have day jobs while they’re getting established, and frequently continuing it throughout their careers. You can read about many of them in our Why It Matters column. This is the first time, though, I’ve heard about the day job being a mental health therapist. Such is the case with Boulder, Colorado’s Jeremy Dion. He’s just released his 5th album, Bend In the Middle, and it offers some insights from Dion’s non-musical experiences set to a lighter soundtrack than you might expect from someone constantly dealing with other people’s problems.
You can start with the title track. It’s based on Dion’s observation that the first step to a happier life is accepting your own awareness of yourself rather than what others tell you. It’s a little bit country rock with some jazzy guitar stylings. Constant is an upbeat folk song with its pleasant musical arrangement tracking the tendency of many (at least many of us men) to keep issues bottled up inside until it’s too late. Second Hand has a little bit of a yacht rock feel, but with a Mark Knopfler-style guitar. That same guitar caresses the most intense song on the record, Better You Know My Name. It’s based on the experiences of an unhoused client of Dion’s, and some of the verses are outright heartbreaking.
Like any good songwriter, Dion also takes inspiration from events in his own life. You & I is a literal recollection of a trip to Paris with his wife. Avery, the only bluegrass tune, is about his daughter. So is June, a folk rock ballad referencing her nickname. The Haunting is the saddest song from the project, where “the day we married, they took my love away, after only hours” tells an entire story about place on the Northern California coast in only 12 words. All I See Is You has a bit of sentimentality in its observation that no matter how many wonderful places he’s seen in the world, nothing compares to opening his eyes in the morning to see his wife. Like many cuts it features Kate Farmer laying in some beautiful harmonies on vocals.
With a dozen different musicians listed in the credits and song styles ranging from rock ballad to bluegrass, Jeremy Dion and producer Kyle Donovan could have gotten lost in the weeds and had a collection of 11 unrelated songs. Instead they focused on the stories being told, putting them each to music and creating a common thread holding everything together. That flexibility, like Dion’s advice to his clients, turns Bend In the Middle into a catalyst for happiness and very worthy of adding to your playlist.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.