Crate Digging: “Song for Juli”

The story of the streaming service era is one of innovation, near-ubiquitous adoption and controversy. Though if there ever was a shining star of this new age of music listening, my money is on the recommendation algorithm. An arms race between big players in the industry has given audiophiles a tool to (re)discover artists of decades past. While this may spur eye-rolling from generations who were there to witness the releases of these opuses, the tool allows the coveted experience of discovery to feel the same for new listeners.

So, while on a particular 70s country kick, the Spotify algorithm played “Morning Sun,” the marquee track on one of the first Americana albums. I checked out the rest of the record after falling in love with that fated suggestion. Jesse Colin Young offers an impressive set of bluesy, jazzy country tunes. The former frontman of 60s band The Youngbloods mixes tender songwriting with inspired solos on the 9-track, 40-minute LP, “Songs for Juli.” Each song has an airtight groove, the special type that induces involuntary head-bobbing.

The album is named for Young’s first child. He and spouse Suzi Young co-wrote several tracks, drawing inspiration from their two children, Juli and Cheyenne. This inspiration shines through in the record’s lyricism, as the musicians juxtapose the brightness of their children with the darkness and tribulations of life before.

My personal favorite comes third on the track list. “Ridgetop” is a seven-minute jam guided by dynamic horn lines. Young waxes here about the tranquil home he built in Inverness, a town in Marin.

This album knows its identity. Each song uses similar instrumentation and shares chord progressions and melodic ideas across tracks. Even certain phrases and licks are carried from one song to another. The result of this continuity is a project that feels like one unbroken performance full of consistently developing themes and motifs.

Young’s vocals are warm and soft, emblematic of the 70s rock and country landscape he wrote and recorded in. Influences from heavy-hitters like The Allman Brothers Band and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young are evident throughout the record. While Young may not have enjoyed the same meteoric success as these titans of the genre, the quality of the music is just the same.