James Jackson Toth:Waiting In Vain

By: Dennis Cook There's base level satisfaction to someone who can write great songs and deliver them with skill and some imagination. Rocks' singer-songwriter sub-genre is well established, and if the template set by Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, et al. remains the yardstick most measure newcomers by then James Jackson Toth has all the length and width one could want. The artist formerly known as Wooden Wand hits his most winning stretch yet on Waiting In Vain (Rykodisc), a dozen carefully turned jewels that send us shuffling away from the grave and reorients us towards greener fields that may (or may not) await us just over the hill, enticing us with a knowing smile that acknowledges hope is an idea that doesn't always hold water but is always worth carrying anyway. From ooh-aah-ing handclappers like "The Banquet... [read full story]