Album Notes

Singer-Songwriter Jim Heald, who hails from Alexandria, Virginia, is pleased to announce the release of his second CD, titled Old Jalopy. Jim began his musical journey honing his guitar skills at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. After living and performing in the Windy City for a number of years, he packed his bags and headed for warmer climes, winding up in Austin, Texas. Austin was a good musical home for a decade and its eclectic spirit wafts through this collection like a gentle, spring breeze – which would be most welcome right now in Virginia.

Jim is a two-time finalist at the Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk competition (represented in this collection by The Thorns that Guard the Rose and I’m Not the One). In addition to Modern Folk, the music is an eclectic brew of Jazz and Blues (Ginger & Fred and Wristwatch), a touch of Country (the title cut), humor (with a nod to Loudon Wainwright on The Psychologist Song and faux pop-spirituality on Don’t You Know), and Caribbean musings (Let’s Get Away). Love, seen from many different angles, casts its spell on the collection, starting out with Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire dancing on the beach and continuing through Romeo and Juliet to a moonlit night of love and sailing (The Moon is Shining). There’s love lost, longed-for, and found, the ecstasy of the chase, middle of the night doubts, and being “swept up at closing with a few broken bottles.”