Mississippi native Jason Eady has come full circle on his third and latest album, When the Money’s All Gone, delivering southern gospel stomps, New Orleans soul, and the heartbreaking tide of sin and redemption through his rich baritone voice and a raucous band. Produced by critically acclaimed songwriter, Kevin Welch, When the Money’s All Gone comes as both a calming voice for the current times and as a timeless album of blue-eyed, southern soul music. The songs sound from the voice of a sage poet that’s made it through the storm to see the other side, all the while knowing it’s going to come again.
Sometimes when a storm hits it brings people together who otherwise wouldn’t have met. When Hurricane Ike blasted through Galveston last year, Jason and a handful of other artists came together for a benefit show in Luckenbach, TX to raise money to rebuild Galveston’s Old Quarter Acoustic Café. As Jason launched into his gospel-infused set one of his songwriting heroes, Kevin Welch, sat in the front row glued to Jason’s latest batch of new songs. Welch was also playing the benefit concert, and after Jason’s set they spoke, and within weeks began work on “When the Money’s All Gone” with Welch in the producer’s chair (his first time producing someone other than himself. Waylon Jennings asked Kevin to produce what would have been Waylon’s last album in 2001. Sadly, Waylon passed away during pre-production and the album was never recorded.)
While Jason’s 2007 release, Wild Eyed Serenade, was recorded with his road band, The Wayward Apostles, and his 2005 debut, From Underneath the Old, was produced by Walt Wilkins and Tim Lorsch, Jason and Kevin brought in some of their friends and some of the top Austin studio musicians to play on When the Money’s All Gone. Guest appearances by the Band of Heathens, Kelley Mickwee, and Kevin Welch himself highlight the grooving band made up of Rick Richards (Gurf Morlix, Ray Wylie Hubbard), Joel Guzman (Joe Ely, Sarah Fox), David Abeyta (Reckless Kelly) and Glenn Fukunaga (Dixie Chicks, Joe Ely). The result is a record with depth and insight, along with grooves that are deep in the pocket and a swing from the other side of the Mississippi.
The themes of the fallen angel who “wrestles with the devil” (and sometimes wins) and the hard working, honest and real everyman run deep throughout this record. Growing up in Jackson, MS and introduced to music by way of foot stompin, “Amen” yelling, and harmonizing Sunday mornings, Jason’s music is shaped and influenced by the environment of Southern culture so deeply engrained in him.
“When the Money’s All gone” is a musical tour of the gothic American south, filled with tales of money woes and love gone wrong, travelers who decide to move on, and those that are forced to by their own actions. The struggling sinner who staggers the line that falls between what he ought to do and what he actually does, and the thread of hope that, although sometimes is hard to see, is always there and only takes a reassuring phone call to remind the traveler everything’s going to be fine.
