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Big Love (MP3 album)
10 MP3 Songs in this album (38:47) !
Related styles: POP: Today''s Top 40, ROCK: Folk Rock
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Comments & Reviews
"Jonathan Sexton has a lot of love for everyone, and he isn''t afraid to sing about it on his new disc "Big Love." His voice is the star of the show, soaring over a foundation of reggae-tinged, rockin'' Americana. It''s a solid collection from the heart."
- Randall Brown, Staff Reporter for the Knoxville News Sentinel
"Sexton''s voice and songwriting are stronger than ever and this growth comes together to make an incredibly accessible album. WUTK looks forward to playing yet another excellent record from our great local music scene!"
- Benny Smith, WUTK G.M. / P.D.
For more information please visit each Jonathan Sexton''s website: https://www.tradebit.com
Sexton shares the ''Big Love'' he''s found in life
By Steve Wildsmith
of The Daily Times Staff
Originally published: July 25. 2008 3:01AM
Last modified: July 24. 2008 2:36PM
It''s both an album of healing and of celebration -- the sound of a man emerging from a fog of uncertainty and grief and rediscovering the simple beauty of life.
It''s no wonder, then, that local singer-songwriter Jonathan Sexton named his new album "Big Love." Love is the underlying theme of every song on the album, but it''s not a schmaltzy romantic record -- it''s much bigger than that, he told The Daily Times this week.
"It''s about healing and bigger things," Sexton said. "It''s a CD, but there''s a message -- it''s not just a bunch of crap love songs. It''s like the title track says -- ''let the rain fall down on me,'' but the rain doesn''t represent what you think it does.
"A lot of times, people connect the rain with something bad, but for me, I had a dream one night, back in January, I think. I had lost my keys and my wallet in the dream, and I was walking around soaking wet, and even when I went to take shelter in this building, it was raining inside. It was really intense, and I finally figured out that the rain meant cleansing and healing."
Coming on the heels of a tumultuous time in Sexton''s life, "Big Love" is a re-emergence, of sorts. Blount County residents will recognize his kin -- his grandfather, William Benford Sexton lived in Maryville and died last November, and the younger Sexton spent a lot of time in Blount County caring for his ailing relative. All of his family, he added, hails from this area -- mostly around Friendsville; his parents moved to Seymour years ago and Sexton himself attended Seymour schools.
His grandparents (his grandmother, Athen Sexton, died a year before her husband), he said, were his biggest supporters while they lived.
"Those were the two people with whom I could do no wrong, no matter what," he said. "I knew that whatever I would do, it was always OK with them. If I''d do something stupid, they would tell me, but it was out of love. They always had my back, and that''s kind of a big part of what ''Big Love'' is about."
Fans of the local scene will recognize his voice and his face -- he''s been a fixture in it over the last several years, having played with such groups as Oversoul, the Redhouse Project and the honky-tonk outfit Whiskey Scars. The latter outfit, which included Kat Brock of Dixie Dirt and singer-songwriter Matt Urmy, helped Sexton hone his songwriting skills, he said, but when that band broke up and its members scattered to parts near and far, he found himself adrift.
Playing music had become a competition; the songs he was writing were about other people or people who didn''t even exist -- stories, which are well and good and fun to play, but they shared nothing of what was in his heart. And so he took some time off -- to care for his ailing grandfather, to help raise his son (who''s almost 3), to finish his master''s degree and get a teaching job.
In doing those things, he found a new sense of purpose. He found the key that unlocked the secret places of his heart, and when he picked up a guitar again, he found the method by which to express those things.
"I really didn''t have time to think about it while it was happening, and I really don''t know what I would have done if I did have the time," he said. "All I knew was that it was time to do something else for a while, and taking the time off kind of gave me a chance to disconnect from all of these things I thought were important and a chance to discover what really was important.
"It allowed me to re-focus my energy and put it somewhere. It helped me to invest my time better, to invest my love better. And when I figured those things out, I wanted to share them -- here''s what I''ve learned, and here''s what that album is."
Out of the gate, he realized he needed additional musicians to round out his musical vision. He found them in Bryan Garvey and Dave "The Animal" Campbell, members of The Coveralls who came on board for his live shows. He can''t say enough about their talent and their friendship, and he credits them with bringing the hearts of each song to the forefront.
They do it, he added, because they believe -- in him, and in the messages of his songs, and it makes all the difference in the presentation of those songs. That belief is something he hopes translates to his fans as well.
After all, it''s not easy, shifting from a storytelling perspective as a songwriter to an intensely personal one. It takes courage to let listeners and fans get a glimpse of what''s real and true, to give them a tour of the dark corridors of one''s heart and mind, but Sexton doesn''t hold back. He sings with an abandon, a passion, that''s can only come from believing in what he''s written and what he''s playing, and it''s awe-inspiring in his naked honesty.
"I''m not perfect, and these songs are the highest version of myself," he said. "Putting it out makes me vulnerable in a way I haven''t been before, and now I have to live up to this. But it''s like I have something to say now, and I care about what people are going to see in me. I care about what my son is going to see -- not what I tell him to do, but what he''s going to see, and when I''m dead and gone, I want him to see and hear this music and say, ''This is what my dad was about.''"
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