In his contribution to the Americana scene, Thorp Jenson rides the line between Bruce Springsteen’s heartland rock and the character-based songwriting sentiment of artists like Taylor Goldsmith.
In other words, his music comes along with a lot of bluesy, folk-inspired meat on its bones. It comes this way courtesy of robust guitar riffs from Jenson, as well as a full band completed by the presence of Dusty Ray Simmons (drums), Andrew Jay Randazzo (bass, organ), and Suzi Fischer (background vocals). At the center of it, all are Jenson’s rugged vocals and polished self-production.
Jenson tells PopMatters, “‘All We Have Is Time’ was one of those rare songs for me that just about wrote itself. I’m typically the kind of writer who has to whittle at things for a while. Sometimes, I carry around a riff or fragment with me for months before it finally becomes a song, if it ever does. Every now and again, I catch lightning in a bottle and this was one of those cases.
“I basically sat down and wrote this song in one sitting after finally deciding to stay home and work in lieu of going out to whatever local hang was going on. I got lucky. I wrote most of these songs at night and I think this song is a good representation of that. It has a bit of a dark rock and roll vibe going on that suits the overall aesthetic of the album.
“It features Dusty Ray Simmons on drums, Andrew Jay Randazzo on bass and organ, Suzi Fischer on background vocals and myself on lots of guitars, vocals, and Wurlitzer electric piano. We tracked the basic tracks in Louisa, VA at a studio called Whitestar. Then I took the tracks home to do most of the overdubs myself, so I had a little time to play with things. I tracked the vocals through an Echoplex and added quite a few guitars to beef things up. When it came to Suzi’s background parts, I had her do three takes of each one and it gave it a cool out of phase thing when we went to mix.
“I love the way it turned out.”
Jenson’s debut album, Odessa, releases on October 20.