John Leventhal - Rumble Strip (2024) [Hi-Res]

As a hugely successful Americana collaborator, guitarist John Leventhal has helped shape the careers of artists including Rosanne Cash and Shawn Colvin, for whom he produced and co-wrote the Record and Song of the Year Grammy-winning "Sunny Came Home" in 1997. For his first solo album, Leventhal goes eclectic.

Many of the tracks on Rumble Strip are atmospheric glimpses, sketches tossed off for fun that rely more on textures than a melody: "Marion and Sam," a short transcription of a Bernard Hermann cue from the film Psycho; opener "Floyd Cramer’s Dream." The fully composed title track—enhanced with judicious use of reverb—weaves in and out between chords and single notes. A pleasant surprise is that left alone, Leventhal can sing reasonably well, as he proves in "The Only Ghost," a co-write with Marc Cohn that the pair originally meant to pitch to Dr. John.

Which gets to the motivation behind this rare glimpse behind the curtain; this is what Leventhal does for his own pleasure. And in that way, Rumble Strip has an appealing intimacy and a refreshing laid-back approach. Leventhal performed, recorded and mixed everything here, with Cash adding guest vocals on three tracks and horn players Rick Depofi and Donald Sorah each appearing once. Acoustic guitars are used almost exclusively. The recording uses a close mic and is very quiet, which overall suits the mood except on "JL’s Hymn #2" when an odd buzzing continues throughout the song. A soft snapshot of a musical conjurer at home with his guitars.

Tracklist:
1.01 - John Leventhal - Floyd Cramer's Dream (1:12)
1.02 - John Leventhal - JL's Hymn, No. 2 (2:18)
1.03 - John Leventhal - Rumble Strip (4:19)
1.04 - John Leventhal - Tullamore Blues, No. 2 (2:53)
1.05 - John Leventhal - That's All I Know About Arkansas (3:39)
1.06 - John Leventhal - Clarinet Concerto (1:59)
1.07 - John Leventhal - Inwood Hill (3:11)
1.08 - John Leventhal - Meteor (2:34)
1.09 - John Leventhal - If You Only Knew (3:06)
1.10 - John Leventhal - Marion and Sam (1:07)
1.11 - John Leventhal - Soul Op (3:22)
1.12 - John Leventhal - Who's Afraid of Samuel Barber (2:39)
1.13 - John Leventhal - Three Chord Monte (3:25)
1.14 - John Leventhal - The Only Ghost (3:29)
1.15 - John Leventhal - Goodbye To All That (3:01)
1.16 - John Leventhal - JL's Hymn, No. 3 (0:52)