Hezekiah Jones is the musical nom de plume for Raphael Cutrufello and a band of like-minded musicians crafting alternative folk music. His catalog of songs sometimes sounds like a post-apocalyptic White Album, as covered by Sufjan Stevens. The biting, sometimes campy vibe only serves to intensify the blow of his sucker-punch ballads. Songs are filled with outlandish characters, imagined landscapes, ringing harmonies, and baroque instrumental flourishes, but never disconnect from the tangible feelings at their center. -Peter Marinari(CBS Local)
They have released one full-length album, Hezekiah Says You’re A-Ok, and two EPs, Come to Our Pool Party, and Bread of Teeth, all on Yer Bird Records. Also a split 7 inch, The Asheville Squints, released on Quite Scientific.
The band is made up of a large and revolving cast of characters. Some of the more constant members joining Raph on stage are Philip D’Agostino(bass, banjo, saw, mandolin, clarinet), Kiley Ryan(violin, vocals), Matt Helm(electric guitar, glockenspiel), Dean Gorfti(drums), Brad Hinton(guitar, dobro, banjo, pedal steel, trumpet, vocals, slide whistle, iphone, lap steel), Daniel Bower(vocals, mandolin, drums, guitar, banjo), Michael Baker(vocals, harmonica, trombone), Ross Bellenoit(lap steel, vocals, iphone, piano, drums, melodica), Andrew J. Keenan(pedal steel, dobro, banjo, vocals), and Chris Kasper(vocals, guitar, drums).
Hezekiah Jones has spent many wonderful times on the road with such acts as Good Old War, Cast Spells, Chris Kasper, and Chris Bathgate traveling throughout the Northeast, Southeast, and Midwest. Also numerous compilation appearance(Folk Music For The End of the World, That Horse Yonder, How To Make an Arrow, etc.)
Hezekiah Jones’ song Hundred Miles In, cowritten with long time writing partner Matt Helm shows up on the compilation
Folk Music For What Lies Ahead with The Gunshy, Sharon Van Etten, Strand of Oaks, Oweihops, and Matthew Ryan among other great folk acts.
An alternate version of Iowa Alligator was recorded for How To Make an Arrow: Philly Comp. One, along with The Spinning Leaves, Joe Duffy, Crow Vs. Lion, Sisters3, The Great Unknown, and many more of my local favorites. You can get a copy digitally at itunes and CDBaby. also available physically at shows.
Bread of Teeth EP. Recorded at The Moonlight Forest. Mixed by Devin Greenwood and mastered by Kyle Swartzwelder and brought to you by the wonderful folks at Yer Bird also available digitally at itunes and CDBaby
The Chris Bathgate/Hezekiah Jones split 7 Inch(The Asheville Squints) is now here! All Done. Chris Bathgate's Own Design, and Hezekiah Jones' I've got a little room.Engineered by Jim Roll at his wonderful studio in Ann Arbor, MI. It became available on Sept. 30th through Quite Scientific
Hezekiah Jones released an EP(Come To Our Pool Party). also available digitally at itunes and CDBaby
Hezekiah Jones' song, Mississippi Sea, is also featured on the compilation Folk Music For The End Of The World with Paleo, Hayden, Chris Bathgate, O'Death, Oweihops, Sarah White, The Hotel Ghost, Matthew Ryan and many many more:
Hezekiah Jones' debut album, Hezekiah says you're A-OK, was released on Yer Bird Records. You can get it here. also available digitally at itunes and CDBaby
The music of Hezekiah Jones evokes a certain longing in the heart; a longing for times gone and for the possibility of optimism in these uncertain times ahead, all while offering the listener a warm refuge in the confines of the present. Think of having coffee with both Leonard Cohen and Will Oldham, the resulting conversation would be the poetry contained within Raphael Cutrufello's sometimes stark and often hopeful lyrics while the music gently wraps you in its soft, serene blanket.
- The Musicologist
And Here's some nice things written about Raph from an article about StillWillis ".Then there's Raph Cutrufello, the prototypical intellectual bohemian, a renaissance man if you will. If you have ever heard someone described as "When they made him, they broke the mold." Raph is as unique and inventive as a modern-day Ben Franklin. With his incisive and biting wit, thrift store attire and the last person on earth who still uses a typewriter, he toils in obscurity as one of the world's great-undiscovered writers. Growing up in Havertown and currently residing in the Fishtown-Northern Liberties section of Philly, Raph is the quintessential poet's poet. Soft-spoken, charming, hilarious. Three words that describe Raph. How he writes lyrics is how I imagine Quentin Tarantino writing a screenplay: "I pre-write on the typewriter and it's a hodge-podge of poetry from a bunch of un-related ideas that I somehow pull together." Being a left-hander, he plays a guitar upside-down better than most people play right side up."Jimmy Mac, Compendium Music Magazine Vol. 1 Issue 1
"While Hezekiah Jones isn't breaking any new ground with their sound, it's a case of the sum being greater than the parts. Cutrufello's lyrics are sometimes recited with a wink, but he can effortlessly shift gears from wryly whimsical to downright melancholic. Captain Obvious
".The show started with a sound guy tuning up and getting the levels right. And then he was asking some other guy to come on stage and then they started singing a song I knew and all of a sudden, they were Hezekiah Jones. And they were fantastic. The harmonies were so unobtrusive, but so present--so tangible. Their songs are the gifts wrapped in brown paper and tied with twine given to you by someone who really knows you. Highlights were "Circumstance," "Agnes of the World" and "Hildebrand". "Hildebrand" has two speeds: loping and chipper. The change between the two--downbeat to upbeat--makes for such a pleasant moment that no one in the room could hide their joy." Brad Hoffman, Cafe Eclectica Music
some Hezekiah Says You're A-OK reviews
.It’s full of the kind of songs that scintillate along the glistening strands of forlorn love or something like it. Like Will Oldham, who Cutrufello cites as a major influence, the best songs are a little elusive, offering tiny bubbling epiphanies and a bittersweet afterglow. - Tara Murtha, Play Philly
.brings to mind artists like Sam Beam, Paul Simon, and Will Oldham. These aren't just songs. They are musical settings and emotions. It's not too often an acoustic album can grab your attention on one listen, and this does just that. - Herohill
La voce profonda di Raphael scivola morbida e suadente sul crescendo della chitarra, e sembra quasi voler prendere per mano il bambino che è in ciascuno di noi, per accompagnarlo nella nera notte stellata, tra il frinire dei grilli e l’erba imperlata di rugiada. Alessandra Reale, Le Recensioni di Onda Rock
.a real testament to the beauty of subtlety. Featuring little more than strummed acoustic guitar and vocals throughout (augmented only momentarily by improvised percussion and piano) it’s hardly complex stuff – brilliantly understated, gentle and observant, and thankfully uncluttered by self-consciousness and misplaced optimism. - Music-News.com
Hezekiah Jones is the recording name chosen by one Raphael Cutrufello, and Says You're A-OK is the collected works from various recording sessions throughout Philadelphia. While that may read like a sparse, lonesome affair - Hezekiah Says You're A-OK is lavishly decorated with many additional players and instruments including kazoo, slide whistle [see: "Writing Letters In The Morning"], percussion and the help on some foreign vocals ["Just Because It's Quiet"]. "Hildebrand" reveals one of Hezekiah's strongest skills in their/his ability to begin a song at an upbeat tempo and mid-way shift into a lower gear - a bit like that lil' bastard choo-choo that didn't think he could climb the hill [but could and did, of course]. It is with the lyrical wealth that Cutrufello presents here - both in tone and tale - that gives Says You're A-OK its 'instant keeper' appeal. A truly magnificent, magical and harmonious album this Hezekiah Jones has sent for us - the battered and needy. This album could make watching air escape ever-so slowly from a faulty tire seem like the most beautiful event imaginable - crazy beautiful it is. -Kaleb, SCTAS
