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JIMMY RAE
Liverpool singer songwriter releases debut album ‘DELIVERANCE’ twenty years after bailing out from Major record contract.
There can’t be many artists who sign a major record deal and then walk away from it, only to casually wander back twenty years later, like a drifter whistling his own tune. But Jimmy Rae’s story is more than the usual crash and burn scenario.
His debut CD DELIVERANCE’, is released on 22 June 2009 on Matchbox Recordings (distributed through Universal music operations) with opening track ‘Aint So Sorry’ as its first single.
Signed to the iconic RCA label in the mid 80s, Jimmy’s band The Reverb Brothers were highly rated by Radio 1’s Janice Long among others, being described by one critic as ‘the Everly Brothers with the lyrical bite of Elvis Costello!’ . After slugging it out in the drum machine Armageddon of eighties pop and a couple of financially draining European treks with the likes of Joe Jackson and former Merseyside schoolmates OMD, Jimmy bailed out in 1987. Disillusioned and broke, and feeling like a man out of time, he returned home to lick his wounds, his dreams of chart success locked away with his guitar.
But the songwriter within him never died. Some 15 years later, the buzz of creativity and the lure of live performance came calling once again, only this time the odds felt distinctly better. From his perspective in the wilderness, the musical horizon had changed unrecognisably. The homespun honesty of roots music had returned and digital distribution had broken the stranglehold of the major mogul mafia.
A songwriting sabbatical on the remote Irish island of Innisheer with a commune of like-minded musical lost souls resulted in a clutch of new songs, which against the corporate pre-programmed past releases, shone like diamonds in the dust. Five years after that creative re-awakening, the album is finally complete and Jimmy is once again establishing his position in the scheme of things. Local radio on Merseyside is already supporting one of its prodigal gun-shy sons, most notably with the poignant ‘Eddie’s Guitar’, a song about the death of Jimmy’s rock’n’roll hero Eddie Cochran.
Interestingly it’s the songwriting traditions of vintage rock’n’roll, country, soul and blues that form Jimmy’s key musical reference points, helping to distinguish DELIVERANCE as an honest autobiographical album. Rootsy but easy on the ear, Jimmy’s songs cover subjects from lost loves to dead end jobs, blending sepia country grooves with a panhandlers eye for a hook.
From the Johnny Cash-inspired opening track Ain’t So Sorry, featuring Jimmy on beer bottle slide guitar, to the tumbleweed-blown One Good Reason and the joyful bar room sing-along of Stick Your Rotten Job, this is an album that plunders Jimmy’s musical roots with respect and affection.
The title DELIVERANCE says it all. It’s been a long time coming but as they say “better late than never”.
THE EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
1. Tell us a bit about your life and musical history to
date ?
I'm a singer songwriter from Merseyside, UK, now writing and performing my own songs again after a very long lay off. I had a brief taste of success in the 80s with a band I'd formed at school (The Reverb Brothers) who went on to tour the UK and Europe with people like Joe Jackson, Nine Below Zero and OMD. We signed to RCA Records and EMI Music
Publishing but split after 3 singles failed to set the charts on fire!
The experience left me disillusioned and broke so I turned my back on the music industry and spent the next 15 years or so in 'proper jobs' and raising a family. Despite all the good things this brought me I always felt there was something missing from my life. I discovered it again big time when I went on a week long songwriting retreat to the remote Irish island of Inisheer in September 2004 - a real creative awakening for me. Since then have got seriously back into writing again, along with recording my first solo CD -only 20 years in the making! - and performing as both a solo artist and with my new band The
Firewalkers.
2. Who or what are your main influences ?
Well, my first big influence was probably The Beatles but I love old
rock'n'roll, blues, rockabilly, country - any kind of guitar music that has
a bit of history and authenticity to it. My favourite singers range from Sam
Cooke and Otis Redding to Johnny Cash and Eddie Cochran...doesn't mean I sound like any of 'em though!
3. What modern artists do you like ?
Not that many of the 'big names', to be honest. I lost interest in the Top 40 years ago but I still get excited by new artists I hear that I think deserve a bigger audience. My favourites at the moment are a British duo called The Burning Leaves and Texan singer songwriter Christene LeDoux who is just fabulous. I've done a couple of gigs with Christene and we've become good friends. Both artists can make the world stand still for me.
4. What is the music scene like now in Liverpool ?
Incredibly diverse as ever. Liverpool's always been a city that has
encouraged originality, passion and eccentricity so there's always a new
generation of poets, dreamers and mavericks coming through. The acoustic and singer songwriter scene is really vibrant at the moment, which is great.
5. What inspires you to write your music/lyrics ?
I guess it's the people, places and experiences that have shaped my life one way or another; from lost loves to dead end jobs. I'm interested in the
things that connect us all as human beings whether it's love, work, family,
home...whatever. There are too many reasons for hating or envying each other these days. We have to work harder to knock down those barriers and find the things that we have in common. The closing song on the album 'Delivered' is my attempt at writing a song of hope for the world...although some people might think it's just hopelessly naive!
6. Name your all time fave track by another band/artist ?
Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen. If I ever write anything even half as good,
I'll die a happy man.
7. What are your ambitions for your music. Where do you see yourself in 5 years ?
Well, I've spent 20 years away from making my own music so just having
completed and released this album is a massive thing for me. It's also
great, having had a disappointing experience with RCA all those years ago, to be an independent artist again and having much more control over the way the record sounds and how it's promoted. I think being on Matchbox Recordings gives me the best of both worlds and I just hope a few more people get to hear my songs this time round.
In terms of goals, it all depends on whether the album picks up airplay but
if it does, and I can sell enough copies to fund a second album that would
be great. I've got at least two more albums worth of songs I want to record
and I'm keen to do more co-writing or writing for other artists.
9. How do you go about writing your songs ? Do you come up with melodies and lyrics first or does that follow the music ?
There's no set pattern at all, to be honest. A song can sometimes just come to you from nowhere and you have to stop what you're doing to write it down and get the melody nailed. The last song I wrote came to me while I was decorating my daughter's bedroom!
10. Where was your new material recorded and who was producing ?
I started off at Liverpool's famous Parr Street Studios, which has been used by everyone from Echo and the Bunnymen to Coldplay. I did five songs there but then decided I wasn't happy with the performances, including my own, so I scrapped all but one of the tracks.
I started again with Iain Morton, the drummer in my band, who's also a great sound engineer and we recorded the whole thing on a 16 track digital recorder. Most of the recording sessions took place at night in my office and we mixed at Iain's home studio in Hoylake. People are amazed when I tell them that because of the quality of the recording, so it's a real credit to Iain that it came out so well.
11. Who are the other players on your album and what do they all do and
play ?
There are fourteen musicians credited on the album indcluding myself! Most of the tracks feature my fantastic live band, the Firewalkers, namely Adrian Hall on keyboards, Iain Morton on drums and Catherine Howard who provides backing vocals along with Ian and Ade. Tragically our bass player, Rob Adams, died before the album was completed but you can hear his bass playing on seven of the songs and the album is dedicated to him.
I played bass on the remainder, along with guitar, harmonica and additional keyboards. The other musicians are all friends from the North West folk and country scene including the amazing Len Whitehead on lead guitar.
13. In the U.K music and food has combined with celebrity rock and pop stars now appearing and cooking on TV food shows. Please can you give us your favourite recipe ?
I'd be delighted; its TOAST UNDER BEANS (not to be confused with BEANS ONTOAST, a very different dish altogether)
Ingredients:
Bread (2 slices is ideal)
Butter or low fat spread if you're that way inclined
Tin of Beans (Heinz are best, I've found).
How to make it:
First, toast the bread on both sides using a toaster or grill.
Heat beans in a pan till they're hot.
Spread butter or spread on one side of each piece of toast
Place toast on a plate, butter side up.
Tip beans onto toast and eat noisily.
Optional extra: add grated cheese to the beans. Serve with mug of hot tea.
HOT JIMMY RAE FACTS
Here are a few random bits of info about Jimmy Rae that you might (or might not) find interesting.
He was born on The Wirral, just outside Liverpool, the second to youngest of five children.
His parents weren’t particularly musical but his great grandfather was a successful songwriter and music hall entertainer.
His brother Nick works in television and his name is often seen on the closing credits of Coronation Street and The Bill, amongst others. He even once fixed it for Jimmy to have a walk on part in Coronation Street!
Jimmy was an ardent Beatles fan from the age of four. His first ‘public’ performances were singing along to ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand’ for his family on an upturned waste paper basket.
Jimmy’s diverse musical heroes include Eddie Cochran, Elvis Presley, Sam Cooke, Johnny Cash, The Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Joe Strummer, Elton John and Maria McKee.
He formed his first band at the age of 16 at Calday Grange school on the Wirral, where OMD’s Andy McCluskey was in the year above him.
Jimmy later opened for OMD on tours of the UK and Europe with his band The Reverb Brothers. He and his musical partner did the entire European tour on the train, using Inter-rail cards. Jimmy has slept on the floor of many of Europe’s best railway stations!
The Reverb Brothers released three singles on RCA and also toured with Joe Jackson amongst others, this time travelling in a hired motor home! They had to pretend to be going on a fishing trip as the rental company wouldn’t hire to musicians.
Despite considerable critical acclaim, the band failed to hit the charts and Jimmy eventually quit the band and the music business in 1987, walking out on a major record contract with RCA in the process. He spent the next 15 years or so raising a family and having little or nothing to do with music.
He decided to return to songwriting and performing in 2004 after going on a ‘life-changing’ songwriting retreat on the remote Irish island of Innisheer, the real-life ‘Craggy Island’ of TV’s Father Ted.
Three of the songs Jimmy co-wrote on Innisheer are included on DELIVERANCE, his first solo album (released 22 June 2009 on Matchbox Recordings, through Universal).
The album was recorded for around £2,000 on a portable 16 track digital recorder, with most of the recording sessions taking place at night in Jimmy’s office.
A total of 14 musicians performed on the album, including members of Jimmy’s five piece band, The Firewalkers.
Jimmy himself plays guitar, keyboards, bass guitar and harmonica on the album. In his early teens he was a proficient tuba player but soon decided that the guitar had more pulling power.
DELIVERANCE is dedicated to Rob Adams, the bass player in Jimmy’s band, The Firewalkers. Rob became ill during the making of the album and sadly died before it was finished. Rob’s bass playing can be heard on six of the tracks, with Jimmy playing bass on the remainder.
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