![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/jd_mcpherson.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWhen JD McPherson released his debut album, 2010’s Signs & Signifiers<\/i>, he created a slow-burning sensation. The disc first gained notice thanks to a Youtube video of one of its standout songs, \u201cNorth Side Gal.\u201d A major-label reissued of the disc was named 2012’s Best Hard Rock Album by the Independent Music Awards. 2015’s follow-up, Let the Good Times Roll<\/i> might have been passed over for awards, but it was perhaps an even stronger collection, and it fared even better on the album charts.<\/p>\n
In many ways, the Oklahoma-born guitarist and songwriter is a tradition-minded artist. But it’s not as if McPherson emerged wholly formed from some rich musical environment; he had to find it on his own. He says that’s partly because he lived in such a rural area. \u201cWhere I grew up, there was really nothing \u2013 you can even underline this \u2013 nothing else to do except kind of explore what I was interested in,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThings that I was gravitating towards \u2013 art and film and music \u2013 just weren’t available,\u201d he says. That meant he had to work harder to discover the things that would inspire him. \u201cThat kind of set my resolve,\u201d he says. McPherson’s insatiable curiosity would eventually lead him to discover two acts that would exert considerable influence upon him. The first was Austin, Texas band the Bellfuries.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I found them, I thought, ‘Oh man, this is the right way to do it.’ Because they were playing with the sonic hooks of early traditional rockabilly,\u201d McPherson says. He recalls that the band reminded him of very early Elvis Presley, but the songs were special. \u201cThe singer was a real songwriter, not writing about ‘the hop’ and stuff,\u201d he says. \u201cHe was making nods to the Smiths and the Ramones, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another artist who inspired McPherson was a one-time member of the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Guitarist Nick Curran released the superb, retro-rocking Reform School Girl<\/i> in 2010, two years before his untimely death. Reform School Girl<\/i> sounds like a cross between Little Richard and punk rockers the Misfits; Curran and McPherson are clearly kindred musical spirits. \u201cNick was truly gifted, and one of the best guitar players ever,\u201d McPherson says.<\/p>\n
Perhaps surprisingly, McPherson and his band have been embraced by the Americana music scene. \u201cI never really knew about the Americana thing until suddenly we were sort of part of it,\u201d he says with a laugh. He laughs even more when he recalls playing a set at the AmericanaFest in Nashville. \u201cWe’re a lot louder than these other bands,\u201d he thought to himself.<\/p>\n
In between live dates, JD McPherson was hard at work on his third album*. McPherson says that those who enjoyed his first two albums may be surprised when they hear the new one. \u201cIt’s much more guitar driven \u2026 more of a garage-type record. We’ve been playing some of the tracks live, and they’re going over really well.\u201d Nick Curran surely would have approved.<\/p>\n
* When this story first ran, Undivided Heart & Soul had neither a title nor release date. The album came out last week.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When JD McPherson released his debut album, 2010’s Signs & Signifiers, he created a slow-burning sensation. The disc first gained notice thanks to a Youtube video of one of its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13368,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,49,62],"tags":[1115],"class_list":["post-13367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","category-new-release","category-rawk","tag-jd-mcpherson","cat-41-id","cat-49-id","cat-62-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13367"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13369,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13367\/revisions\/13369"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}