Jonell Mosser

No one around these parts that has had the pleasure of hearing Jonell Mosser would doubt the special fire she possesses in her voice. Now the Bowling Green native comes back to town on the heels of a new release that is a complete and worthy reflection of the amazing talent Mosser has.

Billed as Nashville’s most celebrated non-country singer and praised by recording artists from Trisha Yearwood to Al Kooper, Mosser has released a significant recording accomplishment, the new album Enough Rope on Siren Songs Records. It contains the bluesy, full-of-soul music Jonell’s fans know her for, and it also displays particularly strong songs in settings that allow Mosser room to use her talents fully and to their best advantage. “This is the record I always wanted to make,” said Mosser. Longtime fans of Jonell will be able to tell that about three or four songs into the CD.

Enough Rope is rolling out as Mosser stops in Bowling Green on tour, playing June 22 at Kelly Green’s. Her band, also called Enough Rope, will be backing her. Area fans can sample live renditions of songs from the new album, her second for Siren Song. Her previous one, So Like Joy, charted in AAA, Americana, and adult contemporary formats. Songs from Enough Rope were released to multiple formats as well, with a debut at #21 with a bullet in Album Network’s AAA/Americana chart.

Mosser is a favorite session singer, and she has some prominent players appearing on Enough Rope — Flecktone bassist Victor Wooten, Orleans alumnus John Hall, and fiddler Stuart Duncan. More players include Tom Britt (guitars), Chris McHugh (drums), Michael Rodes (bass), Bob Britt (guitars), Dennis Burnside (keyboards), and Dale Armstrong (percussion). Enough Rope was produced by Jonell Mosser and Tom Britt, with the exception of one track.

The album starts with radio static that settles on Jonell cutting through with “Red Headed Mama,” which she co-wrote with Tom Britt. Then the festivities really begin with the quintessential Jonell Mosser performance: “Love Like Rain,” written by Colin Linden and Band guitarist Jim Weider. Mosser and the bluesy instrumentation pack this number full of emotion and fire.

So many songs on Enough Rope could be considered highlight tracks. “Only the Here and Now” convincingly stirs the listener with its infectious beat and its appeal to let go of the past and live now. Mosser supercharges one of Nick Lowe’s best songs “When I Write the Book,” adding to its irresistibility. “Circle” brings the tone down with an acoustic backdrop and gets philosophical on both a greater and a personal level. The same tone is used on the rallying ballad “Your Love is Working in My Life” written by Dave Loggins and Russell Smith; Mosser is unmistakably tender and sincere. The urban groove of “When I’m Kissing My Love” stirs the listener with Jonell’s magic, in-the-moment intensity. And the idealistic “Peace Stories,” advocating a change from the war story telling tradition, could rise to an anthem in Jonell’s hands.

The different, slapback-heavy production on “Mama’s Dream” (by John Hall and George Massenburg) make it stick out, but that effect is overwhelmed by the strength of both the song itself and Mosser’s masterful delivery. This meaty song is a tale of a strong-willed, disappointed woman by a daughter who contemplates her mother’s legacy in her. The mother “was always keeping score . . . always wanting more” and drove the father, who “hates himself for gettin’ pushed around,” to finally leave. Mosser, who co-wrote the song with Katrina Larson and Anne Meyers, mixes resignation and recognition when she tells her man “And I’m always keeping score – I know – / I’m always wanting more/And there’s women easier to love than me.”

That “I know,” dripping with the unspoken concern “that’s my fault,” is one of Mosser’s uncanny abilities, using expressions in passing that add emphasis to the song — little things that dagger their emotional points home. Jonell can pour liquid fire from her soul, or she can sing feather-light, or she can toss an expressive turn of phrase in passing, and it all has the ability to strike one’s deep inner strings that resonate and move us at our core. In Enough Rope, Mosser has a recorded work that is a match for her extraordinary gifts.

Mosser is on tour both with her band and with John Hall. She was playing in Kentucky last month, appearing at Lynagh’s in Lexington on May 17. Mosser and her band are in Bowling Green June 22 at Kelly Green’s, then next come back to Kentucky on July 28 at Gerstle’s in Louisville and again at Kelly Green’s on August 17. For more information on the tour or Jonell in general, visit the Siren Songs website at www.sirensongs.com

Don Thomason is a writer and musician living in Dunbar. Visit him at www.myspace.com/donthomasonmusic