It’s hard to find good rock and roll these days. Corporate buyouts of once vibrant FM stations by Clear Channel and other conglomerates over the past decade have largely left music lovers neutered. Where FM station DJs once played emerging sounds from across the spectrum, helping to expose new and emerging talent, Clear Channel stations stick to formulaic sounds shaped by advertiser-defined demographics. Adventurous music lovers are either left trolling the Internet for mp3s of the “next new thing” or simply abandoning the music as lifeblood obsession of their youth.
With all these foreboding forces at play, it’s a revelation to discover a local songwriter in my own backyard has made one of the best records of the year. Did I mention he lives in Lyons?
Yes, forget about the latest Sun Volt record and that CD from the latest British hipster band, and go buy Jefferson Hamer’s new CD “Left Wing Sweetheart.” Fans of the raw-nerve honesty of Neil Young and Richard Thompson’s best work will especially dig this album.
Hamer said “Left Wing Sweetheart,” his first rock and roll record, was a happy accident that turned his acoustic demos into electric guitar driven waltzes, organ-based grooves and fuzzed-out country gems.
He said he wanted to introduce drums to the project, which lead to other non-acoustic instruments and a flurry of feedback, after suffering from an acoustic music hangover. Hamer has long labored in the acoustic world with the folk-rock trio Single Malt Band, a 2002 Telluride Bluegrass Festival highlight, and the traditional folk ensemble, the Wayfarers.
There is some irony in the fact that Hamer paid for studio time for his new rock and roll record by playing traditional Irish and folk music.
But paying his dues in the folk/acoustic work is what makes the songs on “Left Wing Sweetheart,” really shine. 
Where some rock bands are all about a bombastic new guitar sound, burying the lyrics low in the mix, Hamer’s album has a gritty sound enveloping lyrics that pull no punches.
“In the acoustic world, you have to pay attention to lyrics,” said Hamer.
Hamer’s lyrics meticulously throw barbs at developers, drug sentencing laws, mass-market culture and old girlfriends who stick up for their Fox News watchin’ dads.
He knows how to turn a phrase to pull the listener in with captivating imagery as he does in the brooding lament “I Won’t Be Chasing You.” In the song, he sullenly intones to an ex-lover “I won’t be chasing you around like a rodeo clown.” 
The song has beautiful harmony vocals by local KC Groves and slide guitar by Sally Van Meter. Van Meter produced the album and helped Hamer pick the acoustic demos that ended up on the electrified album.
One thing that keeps the album fresh is the range in styles from the David Bromberg-esq lounge of “Free Market Girls” complete with grooving stride piano to “Euphrates River,” a tangy, country ballad about current events. The ballad warns of a post-apocalyptic world if environmental scores and foreign policy mistakes in the Middle East are not settled.
“It’s about a total disaster in the birthplace of civilization,” said Hamer.
With “Left Wing Sweetheart,” Hamer has established himself as a unique talent, who hopes to bring his new electrified sounds to more listeners and future albums.
He already got a chance to open for his idol Richard Thompson this fall and Hamer said he plans to mix in more of his electric songs with his other music projects. Thankfully, fans will get to hear further adventures in sound as Hamer plans a new rock and roll album in the near future.

                            Read more...
                        

                            
He’s been successful twice before with the acoustic bluegrassy-ish Single Malt Band and as part of The Wayfarers, which was deemed one of the “best traditional Irish acts in the American Southwest.” And his kind, humble nature is as awe-inspiring as his playing.
Jefferson Hamer is the darling of the Front Range music scene and his newest album, Left Wing Sweetheart, is sweetly honest and displays Hamer’s roots along with his newest renditions of what music should be. 
The album of original songs, which will be released this month, with a CD release party at Trilogy on Nov. 10, was recorded alongside Ben Kaufmann, not only of the Yonder Mountain String Band but also of the same Massachusetts high school Hamer attended before he hit CU. Along with Kaufman, is a veritable who’s who of Front Range musicians, including Sally Van Meter, KC Groves, Eric Deutsch and Mark Dalio.
Left Wing Sweetheart is, simply put, the album that Hamer needed to make. It’s a daring departure for the musician — a collection of songs which take Hamer out of his comfort zone, but in doing so, finds him as relaxed as a grandpa with a Sunday-morning paper.
Sometimes twangy, sometimes rockin’ and always heart-felt, Left Wing Sweetheart is as diverse as can be, without jumping all over the place.
Perhaps the only way to express the bright-eyed album’s sunny core is by words of advice on Hamer’s website: “Keep picking, listening to music, pile your bedside books high, get outside once in a while, and remember — records sound better than CDs.”
—    Alex Samuel
                            Read more...