Jayke Orvis & The Broken Band - Bless This Mess (Album Review)

I noticed Jayke Orvis had put his entire new album up on bandcamp and I decided to give it a good solid listen. I'll be the first to admit I'm a fan of Orvis' work with the .357 String Band and thought his debut solo album Its All Been Said was nothing short of great. So after a bit of a wait Orvis is back with his Broken Band and their new album Bless This Mess.

Bless This Mess is a long time coming for Orvis fans and it continues the trend of Orvis solo albums. That trend is that you find a bunch of great musicians and above average artists to contribute to the song writing. This album may not be quite as good as Its All Been Said, in my opinion, but for my expectations I think it lives up to them really well. The instrumentals are so well done and Orvis does a great job vocally. The fiddle work on the album is great and is one of the big standouts instrumentally on the album. "Crooked Smile" is a standout track and if you've never heard any of Orvis' solo material I think this would be a fair representation of his sound. 

The album flows together fairly nicely and it is really well sequenced overall. Nothing feels out of place. It has good mixture of upbeat and slower songs. The mood of the album as with Orvis' debut album has a lot to do with the overall vibe and sound. It has a bit of a dark and dreary vibe, but tracks like "Pick Up The Steam" help the album from feeling too gloomy.

This is without a doubt one of the best roots/country/etc... albums you will probably hear all year long. I know it will for sure be high on my list of favorite country albums I've heard this year. Orvis may not be a household name but he certainly deserves to be. He has officially released two great solo albums. It seems like some of the better underground country artists have started to wither and become a bit heavy with repetition so it's nice to hear a sophomore album live up to the expectations. Not to say this album doesn't have much of the same vibe as his first album but it just feels like Orvis has been able to refine his sound and continue to make it interesting. As it sits right now this album is in the race for my favorite country album of the year.

(Note: this was reviewed from a bandcamp stream)