Jeff Root is a beautifully strange rock and roll singer-songwriter. On his latest CD, The Wild Fandango, the metro-west recording artist mixes numerous styles not usually combined to come up with fun, enjoyable pop rock songs. Like a film score composer, Root creates an entire mood and setting. He also likes to tell odd tales in each song.
Four of the songs on this album were initiated in one of the workshops hosted by Ray Davies. Davies is clearly an influence on many of Root’s creations, which means you grab hold of whatever genre or style you feel like playing in the moment and have a lot of fun with it. All of these songs succeed because Root is unafraid to follow his creativity wherever it may take him.
The tango flavored folk-rock title track fuses elements of gypsy rhythms to classic rock sensibilities. There really is no one term that can describe what Root has come up with here. He puts together numerous influences to create something that Tom Waits may have invented. Roots has one of those raw vocal tones that keeps his song sounding rootsy and grounded. The result is an exotic sounding number that intrigues on numerous levels.
“Smell My Glove” is a basic form rock song influenced by1970’s bands like Kiss and The Sweet. Thematically about a dominatrix doll, Roots extols his love for an inanimate object, his raw vocal practically shouting over a determined rhythm guitar and a kitschy cool lead phrase. Though simple, the music still impresses in the way Roots uses these musical clichés to celebrate his humorous lyrics.
A dark folk-rock song “Ghosts And Tombstones” gets its character from Root’s assertive vocal dynamics. He puts emphasis in just the right places so you know you’re listening to a crafty narrator. It’s a treat to listen to his eccentric emotive voice over his bony, spectral keyboard notes.
More rocking and edgier than his previous songs, “Lead Balloon” is an amusing enjoyable romp through rock music styles from the British Invasion straight up through the end of the classic rock era. Roots sings it almost like an anthem, with boyish enthusiasm, as he references The Beatles, John Sebastion, The Loving Spoonful, and many others. In fact, his song title is a reference to John Entwistle’s comment that a new band Jimmy Page was putting together would go over like a lead balloon.
“Praying Mantis” has an eerie, droning keyboard melody and forlorn acoustic guitar. There are also electric guitar bends creating more odd tension in the music. From that platform, Root digs deeper into his earthy roots timbre to sing it with a considerate foreboding. It’s like a slow walk toward a dire fate that Root creates, almost like a perfect film score.
Rocking accordion underscores Root’s list of dangerous defective people in “Out Here In The Sunlight.“ Shards of lead guitar phrasing and rollicking piano give this all a carnival music edge as Root does his best circus barker best at the microphone.
“So Far Away” feels like a country roots folk thing with ocarina notes blowing sweet intervals in the background. The fulsome chorus is loaded with purity of voice and sincerity of heart. This song could credibly be played on classic rock, alternative rock, and modern country radio. It’s a complex mix of styles not easily pigeon holed.
Root gets campy in his lyrical theme on “Love Rays And Laser Beams,” a fun rock and roll song with allusions to science fiction films. The one-man snappy rhythm section of Root’s bass guitar and drumming put a lot of kick and motion into this, and that is what makes it such a fun song.
“Tell Me” plays like an old time jazzy show tune. In fact, it even has a crackling vinyl record sound effect to root it in an earlier time period. You can picture people dancing and acting on stage to its jaunty rhythm and its lilting cello line from Mary Carfagna. Root sings it through a device that replicates older recordings, giving this a lot of charm. You wish the piece could be much longer to enjoy its waltz through the past.
Back into pop-rock territory, “In Heaven’s Light” wafts into Ray Davies/Kinks like eccentricity. The down tempo thumping rhythm section keeps this tune rooted in a playful mode. The interplay between Root’s lead and backing vocals make for another layer of fun while a perky keyboard melody are a treat for the ears. This is another of Root’s sweet confections that you wish could be a little bit longer.
“Existential Anxiety” opens with a majestic pop rock organ sprawl. But that keyboard magic and an edgy persistent guitar phrase only speak to part of the song. Root has an intuitive sense of how, when, and where to inject his character-rich vocal. He finesses the hell out of his vocal line, and it become one of those moments when you realize how some of the greatest talent remains on the local level.
A sorrowful cello line, again from Mary Carfagna, meanders moodily through “Maudlin Movie Soundtrack.” Root’s easeful crooning of his lyricist’s plight of meeting a film company’s deadline inspires both sympathy and humor. Only a singer with Root’s rangy possibilities of emotion and timbre could pull off this black comedy song. The clever lyrics come to vivid life as Root infuses them with emotion while remaining self-restrained in his delivery.
Eccentric lyrics over an odd, backwards guitar line mark the ever so cool rocker “Kerouac King Kong.” There are so many spicy guitar lines bouncing around it isn’t funny. Sounding a little more Mark Knopfler influenced here, Root bends and sustains his higher pitched guitar notes, contrasting them against one another then playing them against his backwards phrase. This one is definitely for people who like their rock and roll with some sophistication.
In “The Curse Of The Mojo Hobo” accordion fills and brief electric guitar intervals create a Tom Waits like rock and roll by way of gypsy jazz by way of circus music. Root warmly wraps his colorful narrative with exotic old world sounds, and he sings it all in such elaborate expression of tone, timbre, and technique.
Root closes out his album with the surf-rock 1960s style organ tune “Secret Agent Lady.” A mild parody of Johnny Rivers‘ “Secret Agent Man,” this blend of spy drama and oldies rock format by way of classic rock guitar stylings is a fun entertainment piece. It also ends the album on a good note, reminding us of Roots interest in humor and old school rock and roll.
Root accomplishes a lot in these 15 tracks. His immense talents, knowledge of music and pop culture, and an unfettered sense of expression come together in one heck of an impressive work. It’s art. It’s entertainment. It’s genius.