Music Review: Jesse Winchester, A Reasonable Amount Of Trouble

By Melissa Bratcher

I turned on Elvis Costello’s Spectacle for Neko Case, but after it was over, I was a Jesse Winchester fan. Like so many who found him from Spectacle, Jesse Winchester felt like my own special secret, this wonderful, warm singer who drew me in and disarmed me with his completely singular voice.

No one sounds like Jesse Winchester. Warmth is the word I keep coming back to when describing his voice, like a warm blanket and a cup of tea, or strong reliable windows against a storm. He’s soothing. His voice is buoyant and gentle. He imbues his songs with honesty and can take simple phrases and make them magical. Unfortunately, he passed away in April of this year. He was one of a kind.

Jesse Winchester wrote and recorded his last album, A Reasonable Amount Of Trouble, while his cancer, which first occurred in 2011, was in remission. That these songs come after a life-threatening bout doesn’t color them with morbidity. Instead, they are by turns funny and sweet, introspective and thankful.

“All We Have Is Now,” is an easy lope of a song about making the most of the time we have and enjoying the small pleasures of life (but seriously, not at all morbid, I promise) and living in the moment. Winchester’s producer, Mac McAnally, throws in some fine finger-picked guitar work. McAnally’s guitar on the rocking “She Makes It Easy Now” is also notable. On this story of a bad news kind of fellow who’s “outside Mobile in a mobile home” and is tamed by a cute little waitress, Winchester’s turns of phrase and also phrasing are unique and completely wonderful. His voice on “Never Forget To Boogie” is surprisingly soulful for such a playful song. Joel Guzman adds a percolating accordion.

The Cajun-flavored “A Little Louisiana” is a loving ode to the place where all good music hails from (true fact). The fiddle and accordion swing and the takeaway is that you should always take a little Louisiana with you because “you never know when you might need it.” Those are words to heed. “Don’t Be Shy” is also steeped in Southern culture, utterly charming and deeply winning lyrically.

There’s a trio of doo-wop songs on A Reasonable Amount Of Trouble that are brilliant choices. Winchester’s take on “Rhythm Of The Rain” is so natural and relaxed, I don’t know if I can ever hear the original without thinking his is the better version. The percussion adds a vaguely calypso-like flavor and his pronunciation of “Pitter Patter” is deep down delightful. His cover of The Clovers’ (but also done by Bobby Vee) “Devil Or Angel” is enchanting. His repeated entreaty of “I need you/I need you” is aural bliss. The man could express so much with so little. Winchester goes full doo-wop on the bubbly Del Vikings’ “Whispering Bells.” He sounds like he is having so much fun here.

His bittersweet songs, which he does so exceedingly well, take on a special poignancy. Winchester wrote the gorgeous and elegant “Ghosts” for his mother, and it is an exquisite pain. “Neither Here Nor There” is quiet and regretful. The final song, “Just So Much” is heartbreaking and painfully lovely, a haunting hymn of someone dealing with his mortality. I can’t hear it without tears.

A Reasonable Amount Of Trouble is such a winning send off for the wonderful Jesse Winchester. He was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of singer and songwriter, and A Reasonable Amount Of Trouble captures his authentic, brilliant voice.

A Reasonable Amount Of Trouble was released on September 16 by Appleseed Recordings.