Jackleg Devotional to the Heart – The Baptist Generals

Today brings us to our last stop on our Record Roulette adventure. To end off, we’re going to dive into Jackleg Devotional to the Heart by The Baptist Generals. Unlike the other records I’ve listened to on this journey, this one is a bit more recent. This 2013 record initially caught my attention with its bright colors featured on the album’s artwork. The album cover was also in relatively good condition compared to others, so I knew it had to be a more recent release. Just like most albums I’ve listened to on this adventure, I had no idea what to expect going into my first listen. So, without further ado, let’s see what The Baptist Generals brought to the table.

The first track on this album is purely instrumental. The sound has many folk influences, yet it has a hard-hitting edge to it. The following track, although not purely instrumental, has a similar musical style to it. After hearing these first two tracks, I was very excited to see how the rest of the album would play out. However, I got pretty disappointed fairly quickly. The next couple of tracks take away some of the grittiness that was offered in the first two, and switches almost entirely to folk. Since I’m not the biggest folk fan, many of the musical elements caused me to lose interest very fast.

It wasn’t until the ninth track, “Floating,” where I started to become interested again. The track is definitely more obscure than anything else featured on this album, which is probably why I liked it so much. The last track, “Oblivion Overture,” is another track that peaked my interest. The backing track is made up almost entirely out of strings, which is different from all the other tracks on the album. The musical lines consistently weave in and out of silence, and I think that was a great way to keep the listener interested.

Overall, I didn’t entirely dislike this album. As an album that’s primarily folk, I found myself enjoying the tracks that stepped outside of the box a bit more. Honestly, I probably enjoy the album artwork more than the actual album itself. However, this definitely isn’t a bad a record at all, it’s just not my taste in music. Therefore, I definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys folk or country, and is looking for new music to listen to.