Jesse Winchester’s Final Album Reaping Rave Reviews

SINGER-SONGWRITER’S FINAL ALBUM
RECEIVES A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF ACCLAIM
Jesse Winchester’s A Reasonable Amount of Trouble
reaping rave reviews

It may be too late to proclaim Jesse Winchester, who died in April 2014, “a legend in his own time,” but his final studio CD should cement his legacy as an exceptional singer, songwriter and recording artist. To quote Bob Dylan, “You can’t talk about the best songwriters and not include him.”

A Reasonable Amount of Trouble, released by Appleseed Recordings on September 16, has immediately been embraced by music and mainstream media alike, as well as by Winchester’s ardent fans.

The Southern-bred artist, whose four-decade career included ten previous studio albums and several live sets, wrote and recorded his final studio album in between bouts with the cancer that eventually claimed him. That three-year window enabled him to pen nine new original songs that bear his trademark grace, insight and sly humor with an additional ingredient of stoic impermanence.
The response from the press has been overwhelming.

Among the latest reviews:

“The shadow of mortality hangs delicately over [the CD] . . . The songs have the gentle country lilt he perfected . . . There’s a little extra huskiness in his maple-cured tenor, but no sense of strain or disappointment; he’s leisurely, thoughtful, amiable as always. Yet in their self-effacing way, his last songs reach deeper . . . The wry wistfulness of Mr. Winchester’s final statement is more moving than any self-pity could be.” —Jon Pareles, New York Times

“ . . . Quietly wonderful . . . One of those labors of love that isn’t just good, or a warm, sentimental send-off. It is unabashedly great and deserves your hearing.” —Dave DiMartino, Yahoo! Music and RollingStone.com

“ . . . Guileless love songs (‘Don’t Be Shy’), wry exhortations of his insistence on engaging with life (‘Never Forget to Boogie’) and melancholy odes to the most civilized of partings (‘Ghosts’), all sung in that liquid and smoky honeysuckle voice revealing his upbringing in Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. (3 stars out of four)” —Randy Lewis, Los Angeles Times

“. . . The tone of A Reasonable Amount of Trouble is one of a man enjoying himself as he makes an album he never expected he’d be able to record. It’s mindful of the past but stands happily in the present, and this release doesn’t mourn the loss of a gifted songwriter and vocalist so much as it celebrates the joy he found in his music, and this album will bring a smile to anyone who loved Jesse Winchester’s music.” —Mark Deming, AllMusic

“Winchester won’t be recording any more music, but he has left us with plenty of classics and undiscovered gems with this final one a wonderful example of his humble yet impressive gifts. (4 out of 5 stars)” —Hal Horowitz, American Songwriter

“Each of the songs . . . is yet another reminder of how perfect a songwriter Winchester was . . . [His] final album ends with ‘Just So Much,’ a beautiful and deeply affecting reflection on faith in God, on love, and on coming to terms with approaching death. A sad but perfect finale to a brilliant songwriting career . . . A Reasonable Amount of Trouble takes its place among his finest work. (4.5 stars out of 5)” —Mike Regenstreif, Montreal Gazette

“ . . . Arguably his best [album] . . . Jesse wrote nine of the 12 songs here, and there are three gorgeous covers that fit seamlessly right in with the mood and feel with his material. There is a beautiful peacefulness that pervades the whole album, and for someone who knows his time on this green earth wasn’t to last too long, it is amazing how serene the album is without ever falling into horrid sentimentality.” —Bob Gottlieb, Elmore

“With this album, Winchester has done the ultimate work of an artist, opening his heart and capturing his vital hold on the final moments of his life in song.” –Terry Roland, No Depression

NPR’s syndicated Here & Now program devoted a 10-minute segment about the CD last week to an interview with Jesse’s friend and fan Jimmy Buffett, who wrote liner notes for A Reasonable Amount of Trouble, organized a tribute CD during Jesse’s first bout of cancer and spoke movingly to interviewer Robin Young of Jesse’s final songs.

Although never a household name, Winchester was versatile enough to write pop, country and R&B hits for the likes of Nicolette Larson (“Rhumba Girl”), the Weather Girls (“Well-a-Wiggy”), Michael Martin Murphey (“I’m Gonna Miss You Girl), and even had his own Top 40 hit with “Say What” in 1981. His songs were also covered by Buffett, Wynonna Judd, Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris, Joan Baez, Reba McEntire, The Everly Brothers, New Grass Revival, Fairport Convention, Tim Hardin, Wilson Pickett, and dozens more.
Winchester also earned the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) in 2007. This year he will be posthumously inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame.