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Review: 'FRITZ, JONNY'
'Sweet Creep'   

-  Label: 'ATO Records'
-  Genre: 'Alt/Country' -  Release Date: '14th October 2016'

Our Rating:
On his first two albums, the artist now known as Jonny Fritz traded as Jonny Corndawg. The name change is intended to make him appear marginally more serious but his style of music hasn't altered much in that it still errs towards the eccentric and eclectic.

Fritz was born in Montana, raised in Virginia, lived in Nashville for a while and now calls Los Angeles home. Growing up, he absorbed vintage country crooners and has subsequently mapped a career following in the footsteps of role models like Roger Miller, Tom T. Hall and Kris Kristofferson.

Of these, he's most like Miller in that he specializes in comedy songs albeit ones delivered in a droll and deadpan manner. "I'm never entirely joking and I'm never fully serious" he admitted in a recent interview.

He is aware that this ambiguity means that some find him pleasantly weird while others will think him creepy; hence the album title.

This is his fourth studio record and his first in three years. He is backed by the Goldsmith brothers from Californian roots rock band Dawes and Joshua Hedley on fiddle.

The album was produced by My Morning Jacket’s Jim James and was recorded in James’ makeshift hilltop studio in LA's Montecito Heights in just three days. James rightly reasoned that there's no need for any polish or fancy effects.

Fritz writes witty lines but, as with any comedy worth its salt, there's a good deal of pathos beneath the humor. Consider, if you will, lines like "I need a cure for the stars in my eyes" (Stone Cold Daddy O) or "If I only knew where to send it to, I'd send a letter to you" on Forever Whatever.

On Happy In Hindsight he portrays himself as a man for whom spontaneity doesn't come naturally while on I Love Leaving we meet a restless individual who'd rather be moving forward than looking back.

Maybe this is what drives him to keep writing and traveling even though he concedes in the touring song Fifteen Passenger Van that there is no money and no glory to be had on the road. Not only this, but he might also wind up staying in seedy lodgings like the dismal sounding Stadium Inn.

The dogged fatalism and lack of sentiment may not paint a pretty picture of modern day troubadours but Fritz comes across as an endearing character whose witticisms provide plenty of good entertainment value.

Jonny Fritz's website
  author: Martin Raybould

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FRITZ, JONNY - Sweet Creep