Socrates said, “to know thyself is the beginning of wisdom”, and Ben Franklin said, “there are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one’s self.” Between them they underscore the fact that self-awareness is a difficult journey, and not one that everybody chooses to take. Kentucky-based singer/songwriter Jonathan Pennington, who goes by the stage name Moonlight Mile, relates many of his own experiences on that path with his sophomore album, Northern Lights.
The CD starts with the title track, a drums and electric guitar driven ballad recalling his move to be with his new wife in Wisconsin. With a dead-end job, an old beater car, and nowhere to go but up the celestial phenomena became a symbol of hope. In and of itself the tale isn’t that unusual for a young, rural couple, but here belies the emotional trauma to come. At the other end of the record is The Beautiful Parts. Like most of the project it’s a singer/songwriter ballad, but this time the band fills in a more upbeat sound. So while “this old world will steal your soul,” the takeaway is that Pennington has chosen to live for the better times and make choices that reinforce the beauty in the world.
In between those bookends are vignettes of a life made hard by an initial inflexibility to other people’s perspectives and an upbringing surrounded by people in a downward spiral. Marigold is an acoustic retelling of getting through a difficult time in a relationship. There’s poetry in how knowing one is a little rough around the edges gets translated to being “a marigold out in the garden, beaten by the rain.” No Heroes is also mostly acoustic, with pedal steel accents. It begins with words from his dad’s fortunately-unsuccessful suicide note and the mental illness where “all I’ve been given are these voices in my head.” Sober starts with some lo-fi strumming and vocals before building to an anthemic level, in a familiar tale of addiction where “no matter how far you run away it’s still knocking at your door.” The Band Plays On is an observation on today’s society where many of the people in the direst of straits nonetheless vote for more of the same, as if change can only make things worse.
Several years ago my favorite record for many months was Jason Isbell’s Southeastern. I listened to it a lot, but there were times where I just wasn’t ready for the heaviness of the topics. That same heaviness is a presence on Northern Lights. Nothing about the album is lighthearted. Yet, the details of the stories make them gripping and ones you want to return to. Jonathan Pennington, to his credit, plays out those songs with an honesty and truth that make Moonlight Mile’s Northern Lights an uplifting experience and one you won’t soon forget.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.