Last fall, South Carolina blueswoman Adia Victoria released “South Gotta Change,” a track that was equal parts a cry for change and a love letter to the land where she was raised. She’s a modern-day folklorist weaving the realities of beauty and horror into affecting blues songs. Now, for her latest releases, she’s paired up with underground Nashville legend Stone Jack Jones for two songs that are urgent and wistful, reflecting the damning times we’re living.
Written and recorded last year, “I’m Made” and “Heaven Knows” were a result of the pandemic’s isolation. The former is a droning, blues-rock voyage while the latter is wrought with inconsolable longing. Jones sounds like he’s possessed, speaks of love and decay with the same stoney repost on “I’m Made.” Electric guitars wail in the background as drums and tambourine determinately weather the distortion’s storm. “Heaven Knows” is ominous, with a wearied tempo. “If you ask me how is my day? / I’m in a coma and I been that way,” goes one line. On both, Victoria’s backing vocals add a haunted quality to these tracks, making the two songwriters an endearing and eerie combination.
Victoria details their collaboration: “There is an otherworldly quality about Stone Jack Jones and his art that makes him a kindred spirit of mine. His music is like discovering a new path through old woods. Singing along with him on ‘I’m Made’ was like summoning a choir of my own ghosts. This song makes manifest with sound the conundrum of the past year—the uncertainty, the anxiety and, also, the persistent and deathless hope of humanity.”
Listen to “I’m Made” and “Heaven Knows” below.
