Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Upbeat and dramatic, without losing itself to grandeur or flippancy; that is the sense of urgent cool delivered by The Mike Jacoby Trio as they blend a sharp view of modern Americana with edgy Country melody and the fierce boundary smashing grit of 90s realism in the exultant clash that is Welcome To The Family.
The album’s title draws you in, the sense of unity and the small grind of the undertone working away at the impressions on the mind, on one hand a carefully constructed moment of joy where you become part of something larger, brought into a circle of people who rejoice at your inclusion, on the other, four words that suggest something hidden, secrets that you will swear fidelity to and which can bring an explosion of chaos to your door should you fail in your devotion.
It is to this eruption of the fantastic and the flood of pleasure received as the panache of Mike Jacoby, Don Read, and Mike Levin unleash their timeless sound that makes Welcome To The Family so inviting, and leaving the heart a little anxious of what it might uncover, that an unknown deep-seated love might appear and take the listener by surprise, leave them fully aware of the involvement and time that will now be placed in their hands as they reconcile what they believed they knew with a truth of human endurance and spectacle they hadn’t catered for.
To bring together love, loss, and humour in one dynamic assertion of great songwriting is to be seen as a triumph, and when gelled with the abundant energy on show, it is easy to see why the group instinctive insight infects their audience with certainty and gratitude.
Across tracks such as The 75-24 Split, Red, White & Blues, You And Me Both, the excellent You Poor Things, Fine American Craftsmanship, and the album title track of Welcome To The Family, Mike Jacoby and his two long term collaborators, as well as Grammy Award-winning Gavin Lurssen on mastering duties, what the album insists upon is that the listener gets musically high whilst keeping their feet firmly on the ground, that to be fully entertained is a pleasure and one that justifies the keenness of open deliberation and acceptance of positivity, even when the subject itself questions the deliberation.
A tremendous album, versatile, passionate, deliberate, full of nobility and yet humble in its depth; The Mike Jacoby Trio score with precision and accountability in this resonating release.
Ian D. Hall