John Calvin

Greener Fields & Fairer Seas

Independent

John Calvin’s grandfather passed away when he was only eight years old. Years later, his step-grandmother found out he was playing guitar and she bequeathed his grandfather’s Gibson J-50, named Jumbo to him. Jumbo and Calvin forged a relationship that has culminated in this new album. Calvin states he was finger-picking on this guitar his entire life, but it wasn’t until 2008, that he got serious about songwriting.

Calvin grew up a military brat and spent time overseas in various locations. Calvin attended the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. His song “Our Souls Have Broken Chains” is about Heather Heyer, who was fatally injured during the white supremist Unite the Right rally there. It is a song of frustration about injustice, and the fear we feel about the people who deem us different from them. The pandemic years followed and it brought unnecessary violent deaths including those of George Floyd, and Treyvon Martin. Calvin suggests we need to stop that primal instinct to think of another person as ‘other’. “We need to defuse that powder keg”.

This new album “Greener Fields & Fairer Seas”, is a bold statement that no matter how bad things get, a silver lining always follows. Poetic lyrics remind us to pay attention to the world around us and to choose kindness in our daily lives. This is an album about growing up, and follows on the heels of Calvin’s 2018 debut album “Masquerade Monday”.

This new album was produced, recorded, and mixed by Nate Campisi at Mr. Smalls Recording Studio in Pittsburgh, Pa. It was mastered by Reuben Cohen at Lurssen Mastering in Burbank, California. All of the lead vocals are sung by Calvin as he plays acoustic guitar.

Written during the pandemic the album opens with “Rest of My Roads”. Greg DeCarolis’ keyboards, and Eric DeFade’s saxophone solo cuts through the maelstrom in this song about coming to terms with one’s mortality. “We’re sowing those seeds, Just to watch ’em grow”. The horn section includes Joe Herndon, trumpet; Robert Matchett, trombone; and Eric DeFade, sax, flute and brass arrangements.

The Tom Petty meets Wilco sincerity of “I Can Make Your Heart Mine” emphasizes being the best parent you can possibly be, “What I can’t leave behind, I’ll have to carry on, but I can make your heart mine, I can hold you close and let you go” as the rhythm section of DeCarolis, bass; and Pat Doyle, drums, and percussion; lay down the strong foundation on this stripped down song of empathy.

Austin Chalk” follows with two violins, a viola, and a cello, and a string arrangement from David Bernabo, there is also some pedal steel from either James Hart or Pete Freeman. The wondrous post-grunge song “Gravity”, with its big beats, takes on the weight of the world and the crushing inescapability of time “All the heroes are gound to dust, just to pave the street, as we waltz along endlessly, to a tune we call time”. The plaintive “Saint Innocent” is about coping with the loss of his wife’s best friend; Calvin’s vocal carries the emotional resonance of Joe Cocker’s “I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends”.

The gentle and touching “She Might Be a Song” is also about Ellen his wife’s best friend, and her succumbing to cancer. Calvin’s imagery “a summer dress of lead” is heartbreaking. It’s incredibly personal yet we all have to deal with the universality of death. “Sturgeon Moon” with its infectious finger-picking follows. “Garden State Variety” is a narrative that begins “the sun came out for the first time…”

The trippy “High is My Favorite Height” with backing vocalist Kelsey Jumper, calls to embrace childlike innocence “It took the purple one to rein me in, and the green to settle down again” reminiscent of the Grateful Dead’s lyricist Hunter S. Thompson as he sings of uppers and downers. “Hazel or Blue” follows.

“Ode to Denis Johnson”, is a love letter to Johnson whose best known for his short story collection “Jesus’ Son” with the lyric “Kill yourself, in the company of strangers”, it’s California gothic meets New York “Velvet Underground”. The closer “Shenandoah” is the album’s only cover, the traditional song features some great electric guitar from DeCarolis, and Calvin crooning “Oh Shenandoah, you rolling river…I love to hear you, across the wide Missouri”.

John Calvin’s “Greener Fields & Fairer Seas” is a poetic tongue-in cheek bit of irony, Calvin who now lives in South Florida, states “I have a wonderful life, wife and kids, I have a lot to be thankful for, but there’s always something more to strive for. Stumbling from bar to bar in my past life was fun, but those who believe in me, inspire me to be a better person”. This is an audiophile’s album. Calvin and Campisi emphasize instruments that build complexity and depth. “Greener Fields & Fairer Seas” will help to build better times now and in the future”.

Richard Ludmerer

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