Don't sleep on "All the Time," either. Kate Beever butters you up with the high end of the vibraphone before she's joined by a skittering drum beat from Christopher Sweet. There's just a tad of classic rock here, maybe coming from Tyler Quist's active bass.
Best of all, though, is when Jones cracks open his chest and deals it straight. He has enough backlog with us now that we care — at least I do — about the mistakes that "have helped me learn from myself," which fill the melancholic "Bittersweet Melody." Too, when Jones rephrases Dylan with his closing "Used to be So Young," it's hard not to think about Stevie Wonder's take on "Blowing in the Wind," a cover that said as much about Wonder's musical acumen as any original.
Jones lets his voice break just a hair on his repeating and finishing delivery of "I used to be so young," enough to make you believe it. Perhaps, back then, "it always seemed much easier," but it seems like Jones has managed to figure out a thing or two along the way.
THINGS WERE BETTER | Released by Zach Jones | at the Frontier Cafe, in Brunwsick | July 21 | www.zachjonestunes.com
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