Album Review: Wayne Jury - Doors And Bridges

Just why it all happens for some and the bus seems determined to drive past others is one of life's eternal mysteries. Wayne Jury should have been up there alongside the likes of Swanee or Matt Walker, a great singer and consummate songwriter with a solid guitar style of his own. He's played sideman to the youthful Nathan Cavaleri, been a house songwriter for Alberts and had The Angels' John Brewster cowrite and produce his debut solo album, Walking On Glass, back in 1994.

Somehow it never happened, but Jury hasn't faded away. Instead, he returned to his original hometown of Geelong, reinvented himself as a roots-rock artist and has finally released this second solo album. The Brewster connection is still there, cowriting five of the dozen tracks here, and don't imagine for a moment they're ersatz Angels' boogies. This time around, former Weddings Parties Anything guitarist Dave Steel is on production duties, and he brings a light, authentic touch to proceedings, allowing Jury's velvet voice and supple playing to do the work, whether on an intimate acoustic rearrangement of the traditional Cocaine or the old school soul/R&B slouch of Someone Calls Your Name.

There are plenty of references to other musical streams from which Jury has supped – the Bo Diddley chug of Where Did All The Bad Girls Go? recalling his hard blues band of the late '80s, Black Cat Moan, or the classic folk-country of When I'm Gone – but they're warmly embraced, accepted as part of the fabric. This is an album that feels like you're sitting down with an old friend sharing a quiet drink and some warm memories, and sometimes that's all an album should be.