This fifth outing by songwriter Mason Jennings is a down-to-the-floorboards recording of quiet dignity, humorous grace, and elegant craft. Use Your Voice is an acoustic guitar, bass, and drums affair that feels like it was recorded live from the studio floor (just a short dance step away from his debut living-room record in 1998). Use Your Voice's sound is gorgeous; its warm and inviting ambience is similar to the timeless sound found on Paul Burch's records. It could have been recorded in the '50s, it might have been recorded in the 1960s, but it sounds completely contemporary. The reason for mentioning the production is simple: it was wise choice to keep everything unnecessary from a collection of songs this intimate and inspired. The title is not a statement in the anthemic sense, but in a conversational one. It means, at least according to the small truth as revealed in these songs, "Become a part of the discussion; it needs you." Jennings' folk roots reside deeper in the restless heart of country music and the folk-blues of Tampa Red, Gary Davis, and Lonnie Johnson than they do in the current narcissistic club of contemporary singer/songwriters. Whether it's in the slippery rag blues of Empire Builder, the harmonica-drenched country shuffle of Crown, or the shimmering brushes and Travis-style fingerpicking on the gorgeous The Light, Pt. 2, the effect is the same: Jennings is sitting down for a conversation on the topics in his mind stream and it's far from one-sided.

1		Crown
2		The Light, Pt. 2
3		Empire Builder
4		Fourteen Pictures
5		Lemon Grove Avenue
6		Keepin It Real
7		Ballad of Paul and Sheila
8		Southern Cross
9		Drinking As Religion
10		Ulysses

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