Album Review: The Baptist Generals - Jackleg Devotional To The Heart

Denton, Texas outfit The Baptist Generals essentially disappeared following the release of their debut album No Silver/No Gold back in 2003. They spent a few years playing exclusively unamplified on their travel rug in out-of-the-way places, and then just seemed to run out of gas. Once a duo, the band now revolves around singer-songwriter Chris Flemmons (drummer Steve Hill left the fold in 2007), and he set the bar high for the band's sophomore effort by scrapping several versions of the album over the years, before settling on the songs which would become Jackleg Devotional To The Heart.

Surprisingly, the end results don't feel laboured at all, the tone considered but not atrophied. It's still folk music at its core but also somehow far beyond that, in the same way that Neil Young transcends the Americana tag. Flemmons owns a voice reminiscent of Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeff Mangum, but both his songwriting and music are miles removed from that of NMH: while they both favour dense, verbose tracts of lyrics, The Baptist Generals' songs tend to hone in on the minutiae of given situations in order to shed light on the bigger picture, akin to The Mountain Goats' John Darnielle. 

The lyrics are mainly ruminations about love and relationships rather than the grog-addled musings of yore, but their pain-wracked delivery suggests that booze was definitely still a factor (after the fact at least). The stripped-back numbers (Clitorpus Christi, Oblivion) are ultimately just as powerful as the more visceral highlights (Dog That Bit You, Bromides), just because Flemmons' unabashed honesty and sincerity is prevalent throughout. A welcome return.