The Songbird & The Pigeon
Jay Collins’ latest recording, The Songbird and the Pigeon, emphasizes diversity–an equal measure of roots music as well as Latin percussion–and a growing confidence in his singing and songwriting abilities. Recorded in Brooklyn at the Bunker Studios, the album once again features Dred Scott and Diego Voglino along with Tim Luntzel on bass and Moses Patrou on vocals. Guitarists Ed Cherry and Chris Bergson sit-in as does guitarist Scott Sharrad who came in for the recording and ended up staying with the band. Amy Helm is also on board for a vocal appearance on the gospel-tinted “Waltz for a Boy.”
“We pared things down…it’s a stronger, more unified record,” says Collins. The Nawlins-grooved title song takes on spirituality versus religion while Collins also included what he calls some of his “stranger” pieces, like the beat-inspired “Financial Consultation, a poem set to an Afro-Cuban percussion section. “Shotgun Past” is a “murky, strange, John Lee Hooker kind of thing, with humor interjected.” And there’s the playful funk of “The Money Hole:” “That’s the one where we really open it up,” he says.
The album closes with the old time saloon sound of “My Dreams Came Back Last Night,” delivered just by Collins on vocals and Scott on piano.
“On the first record I wouldn’t have attempted anything like that. I wasn’t confident enough to pull that off before, but my powers as a singer have started to equal where I am instrumentally,” he says. “It wasn’t easy to suddenly shoot off in another direction and it’s been a process of finding the courage,” he says. “I think I’ve come a long way as a singer and songwriter and this is the first recording I’ve made which fulfills the impulse I had to expand when I turned 30. I’ve finally made the record I was capable of making.”
The Songbird & The Pigeon CD Art
Song Samples
If You Don’t Stand for Something
Sounds Like Home
The Songbird & The Pigeon
Good Morning Grey
Shotgun Past
All My Tears
Financial Consultation
My Dreams Came Back
The Money Hole
Waltz For A Boy