SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: JOHN JENKINS – TUEBROOK

John Jenkins
Tuebrook
John Jenkins Music

Tuebrook is John Jenkins’ first album since 2021’s If You Can’t Forgive, You Can’t Love album. While If You Can’t Forgive, You Can’t Love is a fantastic album, Jenkins goes deeper and has delivered one incredible album that packs a very hard punch. It is a beautifully gentle folk-rock album with country influences and is a deeply personal album full of incredible songs. Tuebrook is an area in Liverpool that Jenkins spent a great deal of time as he grew up. But Jenkins is clear that this is not an album about the area but rather the area inspired the songs.

Jenkins’ lyrics are really poems set to music. He expresses so much in his songs. The album opens with “Shadows”. “I was walking through this town/Been here since I was born”. “Something about it now makes me sad,” he sings. This is followed by “Christopher Roberts”, which features a recording of Jenkins as a child, about a childhood friend and wondering where he is now. This is something which we can all understand. He accompanies this song with a gentle melody and it is so powerful.

And this is the whole of the album. Jenkins has written some of his most haunting and beautiful melodies. He has always been able to write an incredible tune, but this album is chock full of songs that flow from song to song. The arrangements are sparse and leave a lot of space for him to tell his tales. The production is perfect and co-producer Jon Lawton gives him the room he needs. The two work together perfectly. Jenkins can take the stories to another level because of the incredible music and his wonderful and emotional vocals.

Tuebrook stands out in the same way Nebraska stood out for Bruce Springsteen or Tom Petty’s Wildflowers. It is a deeply personal album that had to have been difficult for Jenkins to not only record but release to the world.

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