The Wanting

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Glenn Jones' fourth solo album further underscores the position he has achieved over the years when it comes to both appreciation of and expansion in the field of acoustic guitar composition; perhaps more than ever before, there's a real sense of his own unique style on The Wanting, however inevitably grounded in the many forebears he always carefully acknowledges in his music and work. Part of it lies in his quiet, creative delicacy, emphasizing space and dexterity in equal amount; raggedness has never been his calling card, and the opening "A Snapshot of Mom, Scotland, 1957" beautifully hones in on feelings of contemplation and distance in considered fashion. The languid "Anchor Chain Blues" has a sweet, almost languid feel from the first note, a gentle liquidity that intensifies just a touch as it goes along but without losing the original sense of its genteel flow. Jones' more recent interest in banjo work also continues, starting with the sprightly "The Great Swamp Way Rout" -- not a fast-paced number as such but with a lilt and lope equitable to the guitar performances here while understandably possessing its own sonic character. The brief, playful "Menotomy River Blues" is another banjo number, a lovely contrast to the following number "Of Its Own Kind" and its slow, expressive opening. Yet more in contrast is the John Fahey-title referencing "The Orca Grande Cement Factory at Victorville," a collaboration with drummer Chris Corsano that concludes the album with an enjoyable, wide-ranging, quarter-hour plus exploration of sonic possibilities. Even a couple of songs that feel a little more like formal exercises are never less than enjoyable, as the slide blues "Even to Win Is to Fall" shows. If Jones' performances and compositions over the years have touched on themes of yearning and the past, with a soft echo into the present day, then it stand all the more to reason why the album title and the cover art -- a guitar-playing cat, looking at the moon -- should sum up the feeling of The Wanting so well. ~ Ned Raggett