Jenny Reynolds - Willow & Stone (2026) [Hi-Res]

By Steve Horowitz
Americana artist Jenny Reynolds understands what it is like to have too much time on one’s hands yet not enough time to get the things that really need to be done. She will sit aimlessly and listen to the rain on one cut, then bemoan having to wait for the next. That situation resembles what often goes on in our own lives. The particulars may be different, but the paradoxical psychic pain is the same. We want to be able to be still and simultaneously keep on moving, which causes anxiety. Reynold’s lyrics wryly address our existential challenges with a nod to love as the redeemer.

The 11 story songs on Willow & Stone keep things simple. It is mostly with Reynold’s on acoustic guitar (sometimes electric), accompanied by small combos of instrumentalists on mostly conventional instruments (piano, bass, drums, although there is a flugelhorn on one cut and cello on another). The melodies are uncomplicated and familiar. We have heard them before as parts or variations of what has come before. Reynold’s is no iconoclast, even though the songs declare that she does things her own way. That trope is itself a cliché.

Indeed, the familiarity of Jenny Reynold’s sound adds to the music’s appeal. It’s comforting, and the little surprises in the playing or the words add to the album’s charm. While there is no song called “Willow & Stone”—it comes from a line about flexibility from the track “If I Hadn’t Waited So Long”—there is one whose title offers a more enticing pairing, “Shadow and Sin”. The song’s first-person narrator sees the dark side of human behavior. She does not come to any grandiose conclusions. She may have regrets. She may begrudge others. Life goes on.

Or, as Reynolds notes in “Living on the Seams”, there is always a dualism, even in life’s singularities: “Ins and outs / Faith and doubt / Either or slamming doors / Stand and fight / Win or lose / empty chair ready fuse.” The choices may not always be parallel, but they are options. Whatever one is doing, one could be doing something else. The tune’s protagonist finds herself caught in the middle.

Producer Mark Hallman employs several notable background singers, including Betty Soo, Noelle Hampton, and Barbara Nesbit, to provide sonic context. For example, Soo and Hampton help turn “Imperfect” into something pristine, reflecting the irony of the lyrics’ central concern. As lead singer, Reynolds articulates every note and exercises strong vocal control. There is nothing particular about her voice, but again, that adds to the familiarity of the album’s contents. Just because one may have heard it all before does not mean something is inferior. The opposite is the case here.

Jenny Reynolds offers several bits of advice to help one get through life without acknowledging what comes next is worse. She is not looking down or back. She wants one to go for walks, stay healthy, meet new people, and be in love. You have heard it all before. There is nothing new here. That is just fine.