Pick Me Up: James Jackson Toth

Part of the reason I like Daytrotter is the writing that accompanies each posting of those ever so tasty recorded works from all of your favorite musicians.

The latest installment comes courtesy of James Jackson Toth aka Wooden Wand.

Having ridden whatever that wave of freak folk was from a few years back, his maturity has manifested itself in more straightforward song writing and guitar playing. His latest album, released on Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace, was received by a loving press that sees this marked change as a positive.

But this session, apparently finds Toth amidst some troubles. He reportedly was left on the road by his band - which included his wife. That angle, I believe, gets played up by Sean Moeller, who wrote the commentary for this post. But any variation on a possible narrative leading up to the departure of Toth's band probably doesn't include too many awesome moments.

What is significant here is two fold. Firstly, Toth performs sans acoustic guitar. It's all trebly electric guitar strumming to go along with his pseudo-hillbilly drawl. And secondly, the four tracks posted here all come from some one else's song book.

"Pick Me Up On Your Way Down" does seem fitting considering the context. And the description Toth gives of the track makes it seem all the more personal. He's able to lend the tune a bit of his own sound, his voice, at this point, is pretty recognizable.

A few tracks later, is a rendition of an Aerosmith song. As a disclaimer, Toth goes on to explain that the song wasn’t released on a proper album – only on a compilation, years after it was recorded. “Chip Away The Stone” just comes off sound like a Dylan song, which is totally satisfying in every way. But perhaps that’s just the ability of this thirty year old musician to imbue any track that he touches with a sullied realism that comes from touring, playing guitar incessantly and writing about the things that touch you most deeply. And what ever that thing is, Toth has tapped into it. Even if now, he seems to express it differently than when recorded with the Vanishing Voice, it’s still an authentic and emotionally raw feeling that comes to play on listeners’ ears.