Review by Graham Finney
If you’re looking for an album that epitomises everything about country music then you’re your attention to Mr.Jukebox the debut collection from the bearded Joshua Hedley. Now, before we even get to the music, as it to cement his country cred, Hedley relocated from his native Florida to Nashville, the home of country music. If that fact alone doesn’t draw you to this album for a fix of country twang then nothing will.
So, listening to Mr Jukebox, does it live up to the expectations or is it more of that modern country / rock thing that peppered the mainstream radio airwaves? Thankfully no, it isn’t. Mr.Jukebox has both feet planted firmly in the ‘60s country music scene a fact that Hedley himself isn’t shy of addressing. Songs like the title track, This Time and Let Them Talk couldn’t be more country if they tried. Over the top of a traditional country soundtrack, Hedley croons like all the best country singers around singing songs about women, relationships, heartbreak and plenty of other country music fodder. The album closes with Hedley’s countrified take on When You Wish Upon A Star and, by the time the track and the album finishes, country music has clearly got itself a new star in Hedley.
There are plenty of moments throughout Mr.Jukebox where you can just close your eyes and let the sound of the music transport you right back into one of those smoky bar with a singer and his band playing the corner. That singer might as well be Joshua Hedley who, after listening to this album, could well become the biggest start the country scene has had in a long time.
Rating 8/10
Track Listing:
Counting All My Tears
Mr Jukebox
Weird Thought Thinker
Let’s Take A Vacation
These Walls
I Never (Shed A Tear)
This Time
Don’t Waste Your Tears
Let Them Talk
When You Wish Upon A Star
