Jeremy Pinnell - Ties Of Blood & Affection

When Jeremy Pinnell released OH/KY in the summer of 2015 to stunned acclaim, it felt like an entire career compressed into one knock-out album. This unassuming northern Kentucky singer-songwriter sauntered and ripped through ten instant country classics that tracked as so confident and comfortable that it could have been mistaken for a seasoned musician's creative peak. The songs themselves, reverent of Americana's most enduring traditions, presented the man's scope - his misadventures, loves, failures, and contradictions. If OH/KY was the self-assured introduction of an unconventional new talent, his 2017 album Ties of Blood and Affection presents a canny lateral move. Instead of doubling down on the stark themes and values of his debut, this sophomore album finds Pinnell finding comfort in his own skin and achieving the redemption only hinted at in his previous batch of haunted songs. Here Pinnell joyfully embraces the working life, family obligations, and faith. His new stories delve into acceptance and survival, all the while investigating his most challenging chapter yet: adulthood. While "If life don't get any better / I'm alright with this" isn't an out-right triumph, it's an honest revelation. Ties of Blood and Affection offers a fair dose resolution to Jeremy's story; near the end of album, the singer concedes, "And I know my days will get better / Even if the sky is dark or blue / And when I stand before my maker / I'll know I did the best I could do." At his best, Jeremy Pinnell chronicles the joy and sorrow of being human, which is the best that anyone could do.