EP Review: Clay Parker and Jodi James

It’s a glorious thing when a melody draws you in like a magnet, and the six songs on the album from Clay Parker and Jodi James do just that. The singer-songwriters pursued careers apart from one another, but after touring together in 2014, decided to merge their talents and become a duo….and our ears are better for it. Their self-titled EP, simply produced to great effect, was released this past December. It contains five original songs as well as one traditional folk tune, “Moonshiner.” 

There’s an overall peaceful feel to the instrumentation of the album which allows Parker and James’s vocals to be forefront. Apart, those voices are quiet and heartfelt conveying much, but when they harmonize they blend like honey in tea for a soothing combination; whether on the toe tappin’, put a smile on your face “Meditation Blues” or the old-timey “Showboatin”, a song about that one we know who has no problems grandstanding. The EP also contains the poignant, gentle acoustic of “Come Back” which reminds one of the Proverb, “If you love something set it free” and the tender, yet sad “What It Knows” in which hints of pedal steel echo wondering whether things will be “moving in close or flying away.” Closing the album is the ethereal “After The Smoke Clears” which leaves you anticipating, and wanting, to hear more from the duo.

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