Dino your are brilliant ciao louis
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As one teeters on the border between sleeping and waking, when time is more elastic and associations are freer, one is likely to see the images, murmur the words, and hear the sort of music that is on Napper’s Delight, the gorgeous new CD from Rosendale’s Dean Jones. Part Lewis Carroll, part solo McCartney, part Vince Guaraldi, Napper’s Delight is whimsically deep, with lyrics both thought-provoking and playfully nonsensical.

Napper’s Delight is Jones’s first released solo effort. Stellar contributors include Smithsonian Folkways recording artist Elizabeth Mitchell, who sings the timeless “Grow Little Flower,” Fooch Fischetti on pedal steel, vocalists Amy Poux and Debbie Lan, fiddle player David Levine, and bassist John Parker. 

In addition to composing music for television, Dean Jones has made a name for himself as the indispensable multi-instrumentalist behind—and at times in front of—such diverse Hudson Valley-based bands as Sonando, Uncle Buckle, Big Sky Ensemble, and the renowned family music group Dog On Fleas. Jones explains his “day gig” is traveling with Arm of the Sea Theater, a “troupe of puppeteers wielding giant puppets and big ideas,” as their one-man band.

Of Napper’s Delight, produced, recorded and mixed by the maestro himself at Rosendale’s No Parking Studio, Jones says, “I have all these mellower things that we leave off the Fleas’ CDs, just me by myself.” When asked about his deft mash-up of synthesizers and traditional wooden instruments, modern-day lingo and olde English ballad-speak, Jones admits, “Even if I’m doing a folk song, I’m thinking about Kraftwerk.”

The result is that rare song collection that pulls the listener in rather than jumping in their face. Jones’ cool-water phrasing is at the center, and he has expertly cast sounds and voices to complement both his originals and his takes on public domain chestnuts. The latter activity, not unlike modern-day sampling (but without the lawyers) is in the grand tradition of folk “song-joining;” the performer uses extant forms and words and adds or subtracts, making something new while referencing something ancient. Although the Napper’s Delight liner notes humorously cite this as “butchering,” it’s actually the best way to keep a song alive.
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Lovely words and catchy tunes for my granddaughter and for me. Playing this music puts the world all right.
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Dean's music is so delightful, it makes you want to stay awake!
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