Record Label:
Pretty Okay
Boston’s loss is Austin’s gain in transplant Jenny Reynolds, who transcends the usual and all-too-common singer-songwriter tropes to create melodically and lyrically full-blooded musical short stories and sing them with a perfectly balanced mix of authority and sensitivity. Produced with exquisite intelligence and imagination by Scrappy Jud Newcomb and Mark Addison, Next to You demonstrates Reynolds’ considerable mettle as a storyteller on the cinematic “One Red Light Town” and as a singer by interweaving her voice with Ruthie Foster’s on “Ain’t No Reason.” Then, for good measure, Reynolds finds new dimensions in the Lennon/ McCartney classic “I’m Looking Through You.” The mass migration of aspiring troubadours to Austin is often like taking coal to Newcastle, but Reynolds is a welcome new gem.
