BY ROGER SHARMAN
6th December is always a special day for me, it’s my mums birthday, so Happy Birthday Mother. This one is an extra special day as it’s also the release day for J.R Carrolls debut album ‘Dark Cloud’.
Since I first heard him back in mid 2022 he’s been a character that has firmly held my attention. When I discovered that he was performing at Born n Raised in September 2023 in Pryor, Oklahoma, I made it a priority to make sure that I was up front and centre for his performance. He didn’t disappoint either, in fact he blew my mind that day, and I’ve been an avid fan since then. The band were absolutely on point that day. Being a native Oklahoman, the crowd were particularly enthusiastic and hanging off every single word either spoken or sung.
John Robert Carroll, for those of you that don’t know, is probably more renowned as the Keyboard player and backing vocalist in that current global juggernaut of Independent Country Music, Zach Bryan’s band. In my humble opinion J.R should be the global superstar and Zach should play in his band. I don’t want to go into his background too much (as I’m hoping that I can cover that topic in a future interview) but Carroll learned his trade by playing at his fathers small local church in Rogers County just east of Tulsa, from a tender age, which will partially explain why he’s dedicated the last track of the album, Charles Austin Miles old gospel hymn, ‘In the Garden’ to his mother, it’s her favourite hymn.
Carroll songs are for the most part centred around his experiences and therefore about life in small town Oklahoma, his loves, relationships with his father and mother. The imagery he creates as a storyteller are poetic and vivid.
‘Dark Cloud’ consists of ten tracks, nine originals and the hymn. They follow on in a similar vein to his previous releases, which also demand being explored if you’re not aware of tracks like ‘Where the Red Fern Grows’, ‘Other Than That’, ‘Waiting’ and ‘Stay’ then you’re certainly missing out, Indeed the entire back catalogue of EPs is unmissable.
‘On the Run’ kicks things off and right from the get go you know that he’s assembled a top band that do justice to the beautiful songs that JR has crafted and that are also able to transfer that to the live experience.
‘Never Knew Your Name’ tells the story of love gone wrong. The first verse is just fiddle and JR on acoustic guitar accompanying his angst ridden voice. Then the band kicks in and it’s a jam! A common theme of this and other JR Carroll record is the raw emotion that you can hear, even feel, in his voice.
‘Hometown Hero’, the first single from the album is one of the absolute standouts on the album, its undoubtedly a country song. The lyrics are on point –
“See I’ve been all around the world, I’ve seen Rome and Paris too, and none of them can hold a flame to laying eyes on you”.
The second single, ‘Shame’ is up next and as a song he raises the bar again. I can’t help but think about Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit in their pomp on a number of occasions throughout the record, such is the quality and beauty of it, Carroll’s voice is at it’s finest when the emotion of the song shines through.
‘Too Late to Change it Now’ is one of the few tracks on the record that doesn’t have an entirely acoustic intro. That doesn’t take anything away from it. It’s a break up song but in a more positive light than those that have come before it. One thing that struck me during this song is that each and everyone of these tracks could stashed up as an instrumental, that’s not meant to detract from Carroll’s voice, its just a testament to the quality of the backing track.
‘How to be Okay’ is another of those moments where I instantly hear the 400 Unit. However even if you substitute Isbell and Shires in and they couldn’t improve on the very essence of this performance, gorgeous stuff.
Similarly ‘In the Shadow’ leaves me feeling exactly the same. There’s an underlying vulnerability, almost a guilt, of Carroll’s that demonstrate that he’s not holding anything back, he’s bearing his soul to the whole world, without seeking positive affirmation, a statement of this is who I am if you like. I love that about him.
The title track ‘Dark Cloud’ is a story about being apart being out on the road and missing his lady and home, I’m assuming its his beautiful wife, Felicity, and getting wasted to take away the pain of loneliness, which is a prelude to the next track.
One of, if not my absolute favourite on the record is ‘When I get Home’. It’s an introverts love song, Carroll dreaming of the moment when he gets home because he’s had his fill of being a musician temporarily —
“I don’t wanna be the man that they all came to see, tired of living this way, all alone again hiding out from all my friends, cos I ain’t been feeling ok, don’t wanna soldier on and sing another country song, cos I’ll be back in a couple of days”.
Those lyrics resonate strongly with me, to the point where I well up. I adore that when music does that to me. I think that’s what music is all about, I need to be moved by it and Carroll is exceptional at doing that, he does it over and over again.
As mentioned earlier in the article, the album finishes off with Carroll’s mother’s favourite old gospel song ‘In the Garden’. He’s turned it into a slow waltz with a stunning fiddle solo and the duet harmony on the chorus which captures the feeling of a small chapel performance at a sermon. Fittingly at the end of it JR informs us ”Yeah, that’s for you Mom”.
I knew this was going to be one of my favourite albums of the year as soon as i learned of it’s upcoming release a couple months back, and undoubtedly this has lived up to if not exceeded that expectation. This is red dirt at it’s finest.
