Rain on the Marshlands 2 was produced by Ronnie Taylor. See www.Revernation.com- The Lew Jones Trio. The new album is a sequel to the 1982 Album of the same name. Both albums are blues/jazz and folk pop concept songs influenced by the region where they were written. The first track "A Thought Full of Stars" features Dan Ross of SAND on Steel guitar and Dan Linn on vocals.
In 1994 Boyd Martin wrote in The Downtowner that Lew was; "Portland's favorite underground folk singer"
Robert Allen of Seattle's Rocket wrote in 1994, "A sly singer/songwriter, unaffected, whose playing is on a high level, and whose singing is sincere without being wimpy ..his work has a true northwest feel, I liked him then I like him now."
John Wenderborn of The Oregonian praised 'Rain on the Marshlands 1982 as an album that documented Lew's many years of playing in bars and clubs and captured his songwriting and guitar skills.
Stuart Tomlinson of The Oregonian wrote of Lew in 1988; "Jones keeps one foot in the underground and the other firmly planted in folk music; the results flatter both genres."
Today Lew's music is even more focused from playing numerous wineries, bars and events as an instrumentalist. He has taught music at 2 community colleges, 2 community centers all the while going to graduate school at Portland State University.
When Lew met Ronnie Taylor at The Big Busk in downtown Portland last summer they knew that they had to play some clubs and record. Lew and Ronnie started playing at Eugenios with Jon Lindahl of Fresh Tracks studio on drums. Ronnie introduced Lew to Tom Lund to cover gigs Jon couldn't do.. The Lew Jones Trio was formed and the rest is history.
The Lew Jones Trio played New Years at The Camellia's Lounge to a packed house.. which set the stage to book the trio at Portland's premier Jazz club Jimmy Mak's and one of Portland's biggest outdoor events The Bite of Oregon. Just recently the trio wowed crowds at the Rose Festival and The Multnomah County Fair/Oaks Park.
This new CD is cool and listenable all because of Ronnie Taylor's production skills which come out of the Los Angeles scene and the 'A' clubs he played while being a musician down there. The songs are the best Lew has written.
Tom Lund is a musician's musician, everything you would want from a percussionist and much more.
Check out Rain on the Marshlands 2 and then look for Rain on the Marshlands 1 on the web ..follow the heat from 30 years ago to now.
Thomas McGraw
cdbaby