John Heart Jackie – Women and Money EP

contributor: Hoyt Emerson, August 18, 2009

Historically, the combination of multiple talents has produced mixed results. You have the obvious winners such as The Byrds, CSNY, The Eagles and The Beatles. Then you have horrible results from seemingly genius artists such as Paul McCartney with Stevie Wonder (Ebony and Ivory), Mic Jagger and David Bowie (Dancing in the Street) and the erratic wanking of Oysterhead (Les Claypool, Trey Anastasio). When I heard that local songstress Jennie Wayne was collaborating for a project I had but one thing on my mind. It had better be good. I would hate to have a talent like Wayne fall to the wayside due to an unnecessary compromise with another artist. At the same time, it was hard to believe Wayne would work on something that had no integrity. However, I’ve been disappointed before.

The other artist in question is one Peter Murray. I had little knowledge of who Peter was before hearing about the John Heart Jackie project and that, to say the least, didn’t get me excited. When I finally had a chance to meet Peter, they were about to embark on their first tour south. I received the EP, Money and Women, right before they departed and allowed it to sit for a little bit before I listened.

John Heart Jackie is a very obvious blend of the vast sonic space of Wayne’s voice and the gritty, Americana of Murray’s songwriting and lyricism. The opening song, “Women and Money”, introduces Murray’s songwriting style. Much more to the point and bluesier in melody choice than Wayne, Murray’s lyrics are dark and reflective with vocals that are shaky and a little insecure. It actually compliments the nature of the song’s theme though. Concepts of loss, betrayal and contempt shower with Wayne’s pitch perfect backup vocals and Murray’s emotive lyrics (Well my man left me for money and I left you for sorrow despite). The two make the right choice by redoing a back catalog song of Wayne’s as the second track. Her gorgeous song, “Get Back To Me”, does well under this new musical approach with Murray handling backups and percussion added. It drives more than Wayne’s original recording, complimenting the surrounding songs nicely. “My Sweet Place” follows up “Get Back To Me” with Murray back on lead vocal duty. While not strongest composition, Murray must be given credit for a great verse melody. The push and pull of Wayne and Murray’s vocals keeps and interesting cohesion throughout this short EP.

And this is a short EP. Just fourteen minutes long, it finally ends with the very minimal arrangement of “Careless Love”, on which Wayne is the only vocal . A song of lament from a girl to a boy and a fitting ending to a strong first outing by John Heart Jackie. I’m happy to say that my fears of another Paul McCartney/Stevie Wonder collaboration nightmare was laid to rest as the last seconds of the EP slowly faded out.