Released on February 26th, the track is the first since signing to Fretsore Records earlier this year and precedes a series of upcoming releases including a full studio album due later in 2021.
Desert Hearts, a sweeping saga of ever-changing landscapes takes on contrasting themes of turbulence, reflection and solitude. Vivid and cinematic, the acoustic black and white of the verses expand to a supernova of technicolor in the chorus, accompanied by a palette of instrumentalism.
On breaking conventional song structure, Jenkins states “I’ve been a lover of all kinds of music all my life and occasionally when writing my own songs I’ll veer off in a different direction rather than keep to a standard verse-chorus-verse-chorus-middle 8-chorus song that songwriters including myself tend to do.”
Jenkins’ influences include the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney & Wings, artists whose songbooks have continuously broken new ground. “The kind of songs that made me think to try things a little bit more outside the box in terms of a musical narrative. I didn’t want to be so obvious in my references towards people and places in the song but when writing this I did let a few big moments in history come into my creative consciousness, mixing it with a few personal references of my own life.”
What results is thematically the rusty shell of an American dream, burned out beneath the desert dust. ““The Wizard of Oz” sprang to mind several times and I felt the tornado whipped me up and took me on a journey within the song.”
The upcoming release follows Jenkins 2020 album ‘Growing Old – Songs from my Front Porch’ which received critical acclaim in the likes of Maverick Magazine, RnR, Americana UK, Fatea and Liverpool Sound and Vision.
“Desert Hearts” was co-produced by John Jenkins and Jon Lawton (Sami Yusuf, Two Black Sheep) and mastered by Pete Maher (The Rolling Stones, U2, Patti Smith). The song is released on digital services worldwide on February 26th
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As a member of his own James Street Band, along with performances with The Persuaders and Come in Tokio, John Jenkins has shared stages with the likes of Elvis Costello, Chris Difford (Squeeze), Echo and The Bunnymen, The Beat and Jarrod Dickenson.
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