Lost Songs by John R. Williamson (Review)

Listening to Lost Songs, the latest from stellar LA folk singer John R. Williamson, I’m reminded of the work of local boy Ron Sexsmith. Williamson’s tones tend to be more organic and earthy than Sexsmith’s, but the two share a quiet understatement and a gift for turning a phrase. This proves to be their greatest appeal, but is likely the reason why they are widely overlooked. It says something less rather unflattering about the current state of the music industry when image and attitude are enough to sell records (Avril Lavigne, anyone?) while truly gifted writers and performers are generally overlooked.

Williamson’s Lost Songs is exactly what you’d expect from the title, a collection of songs recorded over the years that for one reason or another never made it onto a record until now. Many artists release records like this from time to time, with the typical result being a record that may have its high points but simply refuses to hang together either sonically, thanks to varied recording environments, or thematically.

While these records do tend to include quality material, there are always a few instances where it’s perfectly obvious why the songs never made it onto a record (they’re just not very good). In Williamson’s case, you’d never know this was a collection of leftovers if he hadn’t said so himself.

So why does Lost Songs succeed where other similar records fail? Two reasons. First, Williamson is an incredibly prolific songwriter, prolific on the scale of Dan Bern or Bill Mallonee. Take someone who writes stacks of songs, has been doing so for years, and has only released two CDs to date and it stands to reason that he’s going to have a good range of A-list material to choose from. Frankly I wouldn’t be surprised if Williamson could release two or three more of these projects without the song quality dropping a bit.

Second, there’s longtime producer/engineer Daniel McCoy and his Crescent Vale studio. Williamson has been recording with McCoy for years, with the producer’s dry production touch serving as the perfect complement to Williamson’s performances. There’s one obvious benefit of this extended artist/producer collaboration. While these songs are lifted from a range of recording sessions, with no less than fourteen musicians involved (yes, longtime friend and collaborator Robert Deeble is among them), it sounds as though this could’ve easily been the product of a single recording session. There are no embarrassing sonic experiments here, no lo-fi demos, just a series of stellar tunes expertly captured to tape.

Lost Songs is something of a stop gap between records — Williamson’s next album of new material is expected within the next few months — and it says wonders about Williamson’s body of work that he can reach back and draw up such a solid collection of songs so easily. It says volumes about his commitment to his fans that Williamson is treating Lost Songs as a purely custom release. Each copy’s artwork is hand-painted by Williamson himself, and though there is a standard track listing, he has posted a standing offer on his website to customize the track list for anyone who wants to add or remove material.

Truly a quality act.

Written by Chris Brown.