Some excerpts from reviews gathered from Amazon, the guestbook etc, shared here in a blatant flurry of self-publicising. Thank you to everyone who's shown interest in and/or bought the album so far. If you've heard it and have something nice to say, a review on Amazon, CD Baby, jonmcdevitt.com etc would be a huge help in getting it better known, and I'd be very grateful.
''Carefully crafted lyrics with lovely tunes to accompany them - each track very different & a pleasure to listen to. Loved all the songs but Satellite is my personal favourite.''
''Shades of Tom Waits/Ray Davies/Costello and traditional British storytelling. Every song is unique and takes you to a different place.''
''...obviously there's a linking theme to the songs as there are little clips of sound effects between some of the tracks. An alarm clock, a door closing, breaking waves, the scratch from an old vinyl record..... It's not so easy to pick a genre for the music. There's lots of acoustic guitar, piano and harmonica but also Mellotron and some really tasteful electric guitar soloing. There's some quite dark moments and some catchy upbeat songs too.... Standout tracks for me are Lemon Days, May and Downmarket.''
''I have been familiar with Jon's live sets and cover work and now have found his original material absolutely brilliant. The poignant lyrics coupled with such wonderful melodies puts this local artist amongst the best in the area if not the south. The river and the burial ground is a masterpiece indeed.''
''The River and the Burial Ground is not a poppy album. The singing is understated and bluesy. At first, I thought [the title track] was going to be a scary delta blues song. It wasn't long before the conventions of delta blues were tossed aside to great effect.
The instrumentalists…...play just what the songs call for... Jasmine will stick in your head for days.''
''...the variety and attention to detail is something else on a collection of songs that are beautifully crafted, arranged and delivered - a very enjoyable and at times, emotional journey of an album. From the openers - the ‘Golden Slumbers’ inspired ‘Downmarket’ & the catchy and quirky ‘For Want Of Something Better’ through to the wistful longing of ‘Broken Blues (For Cam)’.....and then on to a rousing finale with the band kicking in for songs like ‘Satellite’ after a succession of gems along the way.''