Jubilee [Audio CD] Shurman

Product Description You can attach many handles to the music on shurman's debut album 'Jubilee',country rock, cowpunk, rock'n'roll, alt-country, Americana-but none of them really nails the band's sound. Sure, there's twang in the 11 songs on jubilee, which was produced by Beavers, Dusty Wakeman (Lucinda Williams, Dwight Yoakam), and Andrew Williams (Five For Fighting, Old 97s). That's only natural, considering that the group's founding members grew up in Texas and Georgia. Vanguard. 2005. This exuberant album-length debut (following a pair of EPs) showcases a young Los Angeles band that has roots in alt-country and an ear toward rock radio. Frontman Aaron Beavers frequently sounds like Counting Crows' Adam Duritz in his tremulous sincerity, while his material acknowledges the formative influence of Tom Petty (on "Petty Song") and channels some of the spirit of the early Eagles (on "So Happy"). Performances that range from the buoyant innocence of "Red Eyes" to the raw, garage-band urgency of "I Got You (Part 3)" support the band's reputation as a live powerhouse, with the somber balladry of the title track and the meditation on mortality in "Down" showing a more reflective side. As an ode to last call, "2 a.m." brings the album to a fitting, bar-band close. --Don McLeese