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Crooked Star EP

by John Jody

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stevemarth
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stevemarth Excellent collection of songs. I was a big fan of 2021's Black Nash release, took me a while to see that he was releasing music under this name! Absolutely deserves more buzz, a brilliant and distinct songwriting voice. Favorite track: Nothing to Me.
amorales909
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Aaron Whitman
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1.
Chelsea Encounter 03:05
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In a short skirt With a gold whip Paris you don’t need to try With a black card In a silver clip Paris you’re gonna make me cry Hold me baby, push me baby Throw me up the shining stairs Move me baby, whip me baby Take me high Show me what it’s like up there With a gold watch With a gold face Paris, do you have the time Reading big books While you roll face Paris can you read my mind Mock me baby, I don’t care As long as you let me touch your throat Beat me baby, Burn me if it makes you smile I just want to hear the joke In a fine mist In a high heel Would you crush me in the ground When you wake up What do you feel? Do you even make a sound? If the sun went out tomorrow Would you cry delicious tears? Kiss me baby, kill me baby Tell me lies Tell me I’m not really here
2.
Nothing to Me 02:27
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There’s something about you I know I could never explain But when I looked closer all that I found Was a couple blank pages in a curtain of rain Paris you’re nothing to me You talk so low, as if you were telling a secret But when I leaned closer your words were all empty I thought we were friends but we’re not even enemies Paris you’re nothing to me The first time we kissed I knew I could never respect you Did you think you impressed me because you talked like an actress? You think you proved something because you lay on a mattress? Paris you’re nothing to me You don’t care what I’m saying, I know that’s probably true You’re not even listening Who am I talking to? Zero loves zero, I was nothing to you Now you’re nothing to me
3.
Sweet Lemon 02:24
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Sweet lemon growing in the dark Bad woman walking in the park at dawn Lying awake with my head on your chest The smell of the skin at the base of your neck is like Sweet lemon growing on a tree Bad rhythm humming in my knees and toes Hands and feet, eyes and nose Sweet lemon, growing on a vine Sweet woman, give me a sign Take your hand and put it in my hand Love goes away, it comes and it goes Smell of your body under your clothes I wanna go wherever you go Sweet lemon growing on a vine Sweet singer calling out the time alone Love goes away, it comes and it goes The smell of the skin at the lip of your coat is like Sweet lemon hanging from a branch Sweet woman, give me a chance Turn around, I’ll pay your ticket home Trouble ahead, trouble behind Wherever you go, you stay on my mind You stay on my mind wherever you go
4.
Tokyo 02:25
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Kodiak, Vicodin Kissin’ Country on the radio These people don’t care where I’ve been God, I wish I was in Tokyo We stayed up all night long Drinking and laughing and laying in the road We didn’t care where we were Now I wish I was in Tokyo When you left you asked me why And I told you that I didn’t know Now I see Now I know God I wish I was in Tokyo

about

“I’m trying pretty consciously to share more of myself with people,” says New York-based singer-songwriter John Jody, whose Crooked Star EP is out this May via Ramp Local.

Having previously recorded under the aliases Black Nash and Jody Smith, his latest release marks a shift for the artist, not just in name, but stylistically and emotionally as well. While Black Nash’s sound was characterized by a mix of quiet balladry and raucous, angular guitar rock, Crooked Star skips the skronk and goes right for the heart, featuring four almost entirely acoustic tracks with a vivid sense of interiority. In a way they reflect his journey as an artist, one who has, until recently, worked tirelessly in isolation to hone his craft.

“Before I linked up with Ramp Local I was making music in a vacuum,” Jody shares. “I didn’t have many people to show [my music] to, and I used the name [Black Nash] because I didn’t want anybody to trace my music back to me personally—it was a way of hiding.” As he tells it, things started to change with the release of 2021’s Black Nash on Ramp Local and the connections that release helped him cultivate with other musicians. Gradually, he started to feel less like hiding, and with that came the decision to group his old albums under his real name to coincide with the release of Crooked Star. It’s all part and parcel with his desire to share more of himself with his audience and illuminate the circuitous path his musical career has taken up to this point. “That’s something that I’ve sometimes been uncomfortable doing, but meeting people through music has opened up my whole world in ways I didn’t anticipate.”

There’s a sweet irony in the fact that this growing sense of comfort and community has led to a set of songs that are almost uncomfortably intimate. From the voyeuristic longing of lead single “Chelsea Encounter” to the wistful nostalgia of “Sweet Lemon” and the flat regret of “Tokyo”, each track foregrounds Jody’s voice against spare acoustic guitars and sighing pedal steel. At times street noise permeates the vacuum, drifting through the open windows of his apartment, a viscerally relatable reminder that the world continues to turn, regardless of how many days it’s been since you’ve gone outside to check. It all makes for an achingly gorgeous release, one that strips away old layers of artifice to reveal the profound longing and incisive songcraft that’s lurked at the core of Jody’s art.

“I’ve always really liked country songwriting, traditional folk songwriting, where there’s one lyrical or musical idea running through a whole song.” In that sense, he says, Crooked Star is an exercise in direct communication. “When I wrote these songs I was trying to write lasers,” he says. “Straight lines. One thing, said clearly.” This directness certainly comes through in how he’s structured each track. Most revolve around repeated lyrical refrains (“You’re nothing to me”, “God, I wish I was in Tokyo”) that recall classic country songwriting of the 50s and 60s, and all but one (“Sweet Lemon”) eschew bridges completely for simple repeated verses. And yet, even as Jody has become more comfortable opening up, his work retains an enigmatic edge. There’s a sense of mystery in these songs that defies linear explanations—they’re full of hints and allusions, suggestions of an inner life that the songs can’t completely expose.

“No song is going to contain somebody’s whole life,” says Jody. “But songs can tell you a lot about a person.”

credits

released May 27, 2022

Pedal Steel: Mark Huhta and Cody Nilsen
Additional production by Derek Ramirez
Mastered by Ryan Power
Cover art by Caroline Bennett

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John Jody New York, New York

johnjodymusic@gmail.com

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