Joshua Thomas - The Wings Outside (2024)

Joshua Thomas has a new album The Wings Outside of songs that are ardent, sincere, and thoughtful and based on a resonant hearty piano foundation, produced by Over the Rhine duo Karin Bergquist and Linford Detweiler. Having toured himself as support for Adrianne Lenker, and pulling in Americana artists who’ve played for bands like Son Volt and Hurray for the Riff Raff for this album, Joshua has sedimented his sound’s appeal among the current sweet favorites of quality Americana music fans in a widely rounded way.

This album opens with strong piano playing on “The Question” and later, over the hushed sincerity of the lyrics, there’s easygoing melodious trombone. And Joshua’s singing that’ll capture your aching heart.

“Cashland” sings of a new religion and hard realities: “Janet, let your hair find the wind / Bring a hammer and that song about heroin / Drive, at least as far as Yellow Springs / Find a place to sell your goddamn wedding ring / And find a new religion, new.” Piano and a thoughtful melody line support this sketch of a woman trying to climb out of the hole she’s in.

“Darlene” is easy acoustic guitar and touches of pedal steel by Eric Heywood, who’s played with Son Volt, among others. “Little strands of her yellow hair / Fall from her elbow in the cigarette air / All the other people don’t see her there / Behind the counter at the bar / But she was gonna go far.” “One of a Kind” is a confessional song about the difficulties of being alone: “I’m fine / I am holy / I’m difficult / And I’m one of a kind.” With the piano building restraint and crescendoes, and Joshua’s power vocals, this one could be in Elton John’s repertoire.

“From Below” is the melancholy and bleak song with acoustic guitar and cello, and always, the poetry: “Climb through a window / She died believing in moonglow / Held the feeling as she signaled the note / From below…. When to us she sang / Boy, is time gonna die / Here’s a warning sign.” “Black Flowers” is a somber one with a slight shuffly beat and the beseeching: “So we keep love around / Black flowers wilted on the ground / I heard my name / In a cemetery once / And I still remember the sound.”

Joshua Thomas’ songs are bonafide poetry as they wind vivid imagery of characters who are mostly stuck in unhappy stations in life, grieving and sorrowful. Optimism for these folks exists in small forms, but the focus is on the pain, the loss, mortality and giving up, and Joshua’s singing is an imploring to listen.