.

A Critic’s Self Indulgent Introduction. 

It was New Year’s Eve 2001 and after months of hearing the buzz about Buchanan, I was finally able to hear and see if that buzz was justified. The event was a special New Year’s show in downtown Long Beach featuring Buchanan, Twelvehourmary and headliner Bird3. 

I really didn’t know what to expect from Buchanan. I had heard Long Beach musicians singing his praises for months. Since I respect a lot of the musicians that had great things to say about Buchanan, I had really high expectations. Buchanan didn’t disappoint. 

Because of the special nature of the show, Buchanan decided to pull out all of the stops for their performance and asked a host of guest musicians to join them on stage. Percussions, drums, bass, lots of guitars, back up vocals, but the real star was Jay Buchanan. His bitter sweet blue eyed soul filled vocals plied over swirling jazz inspired guitars were captivating to say the least. Seeing the army of musicians on stage helping him deliver the goods was reminiscent of a Santana jam or Steely Dan. 

Comparisons are bound to be drawn with the Dave Matthews Band, Joan Armatradding, Tracy Chapman and the late Jeff Buckley. In fact, an OC Weekly columnist once remarked that Buckley stole Jay’s act. But Jay shrugs off that claim; he seems far more intent on delivering his music than getting into petty music industry squabbles. He leaves such trivial pondering to the critics to mull over. 

The ultimate irony for me in this whole thing is typically this isn’t my kind of music. While, I appreciate it and the musicianship involved, the aforementioned artists just never gave me that buzz that comes along when you connect with a piece of music. But I definitely got a buzz that New Year’s Eve in Long Beach and it’s still going strong. 

Jay Buchanan – From Mountain Man to Suburban Rocker.

Jay Buchanan’s life reads a bit like an adventure novel. He was raised in the blue-collar mountain community of Wrightwood, California under the influence of his parent’s love of art. In high school, Jay’s heart and mind were elsewhere. Although the would sink his mind around the heady work of Dostoyevsky, Kafka and Henry Miller for his version of leisurely reading, the curriculum at school held very little interest for him; he would bring home straight Fs. 

At the age of 20, the call of wild, or a sense of adventure motivated Jay to hitchhike to Alaska armed only with a backpack, a harmonica and his journal. When he returned home from his trek into the Great While North, he turned his full attention to music, seeking out an audience wherever he could find one, including makeshift performances outside of a 7-Eleven. 

While there is a rabid music base in the Inland Empire (the area where Jay grew up), Jay felt he might find a wider audience by going west to Orange County. Legend has it that Jay began performing around the Fullerton music scene, where Jeff Buckley may have (or may not have) witnessed Jay’s soulful airy show, while he was trying to figure out which direct to take his own music and upon hearing the power projected by Jay with a full band, decided to take the plunge himself by adding a full backing band to the material he was working on at the time (would later be released on the posthumous album, “Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk”). 

In Orange County, Jay gravitated towards like minded musicians (or they gravitated towards him). The core of what would become Buchanan was formed when Jay teamed up with Long Beach rocker Todd Sanders, bassist for popular local band Ruby Driver and drummer Chris Powell, who had played with Jay previously, back in the Inland Empire.

While Jay’s compositions would come across beautifully with a solo acoustic folk delivery, with a full band behind him the music takes on a full bodied and airy feel. The powerful and emotive music quickly earned Buchanan (still performing as Jay Buchanan) a loyal fanbase in Orange County and Long Beach. His fellow musicians on the Long Beach scene embraced Jay and his band with open arms and often teamed up with them for local gigs. Meanwhile, the discerning local fans began a word of mouth campaign and Buchanan’s audience and buzz began to grow. The local music press sang the band’s praises at every turn but that major record deal was elusive, since Buchanan’s music didn’t fit nicely into the current musical trends. 

However, because the fans were hungry for it, the band decided to take the bull by the horns and go the DIY route and put out their own record. As they were recording material for the release, luck happened upon one of their gigs in the form of Jason Ziemianski from Ultimatum Records, who loved what he heard and offered the band a deal. 

Ultimatum Records proved to be a good label home for Buchanan, where they were allowed to explore their craft without the label pressure to fit into an insipid trend. They joined the ranks of labelmates Sugarcult, The Exies, and Soul Asylum frontman Dave Pirner. 

With the new deal in hand, the label rushed Buchanan into the studio with veteran producer Don Gehman (R.E.M., John Cougar Mellencamp, Tracy Chapman), who according to the band’s bio, “immediately embraced the material”.

Under Gehman’s stewardship the band began to put together the pieces that would make up their debut, “All Understood”. The resulting album is a mid tempered effort where the stylish guitars carry almost as much emotion as Jay’s soulful vocals. Built upon a strong rhythm section the guitars are given plenty of room to explore without becoming self indulgent and Jay’s poignant voice and pensive lyrics keep the songs in strong focus, while still delivering an almost experiment feel. However, some of the most captivating moments come when the music is stripped down to it’s core like on the opening song “Plans”, where Jay sets the entire tone for the album with a clear focus on his voice with minimal percussion and acoustic guitar backing him up. 

That minimalist approach works well on “Plans” but most people will likely gravitate to the more jazzy infused mid-tempo rockers like “Reborn”, “Satan Is A Women” and “Three Times Colleen” or when they kick things into a heavy groove with “American Son”. 

While, the music here would have easily been a blockbuster hit during the summer of love, it’s not a throwback by any sense of the word. It’s the evolution of the style; re-channeled, refocused and reenergized for the 21st century. 

Buchanan’s music may not be for everyone but for those that do connect with it, they are likely to connect with it in a big way and after listening to “All Understood” may just say to themselves, God Bless these American Sons! 

Visit the official website for Buchanan

Purchase "All Understood" online!

Check out these full length mp3s - "Satan is a Woman" - "If You Leave"