Jason Eady Brings Excellent Blend of Delta South, Red Dirt Country to Little Rock's Stickyz

by Julian Spivey

Julian Spivey Photo

Jason Eady brought his blend of Delta blues and Red Dirt country to Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack in Little Rock, Ark., on Tuesday, June 16, for his first performance in Arkansas in more than a decade, according to him.

Eady has been a singer-songwriter I’ve been paying attention to since his 2017 self-titled album, when I first heard his song “Barabbas,” about the murderer who was pardoned in place of Jesus of Nazareth. That song featured at No. 6 on this website’s list of the Best Americana and Country Music songs of 2017.

I’ve paid attention to his releases since then, finding particular favorites in terrific story songs like “French Summer Sun,” off 2021’s To the Passage of Time, which ranked No. 10 on this site’s end-of-year list.

Eady’s 2023 album, Mississippi, is where he was at his best, in my opinion, as he mingled that great Red Dirt country songwriting with the music of the Delta South, of his home state that shares the album’s name. Songs like “Once Upon a Time in New Orleans,” which ranked No. 82 on my yearly list (admittedly low), and “Burn It Down,” No. 10 on the yearly list.

Eady opened his show at Stickyz on Tuesday night with the terrific one-two punch of “Once Upon a Time in New Orleans” and “Burn It Down,” which wound up being my two favorite performances of the set. He played five of the 10 tracks from Mississippi at the show on Tuesday, with backing from the talented Midnight River Choir, including “Way Down in Mississippi” and “Wayside.”

Eady’s latest album, Tulsa Turnaround, which was released on June 5, is another terrific effort from the singer-songwriter and evident chameleon of musical sounds, as he melds the Delta sound of his previous album with the Tulsa Sound, popularized by artists such as J.J. Cale and Leon Russell in the ‘70s. The album’s title track, the first from the new album he performed on Tuesday night, is already high on my list of favorite Americana or Country music songs of the year. “Tulsa Turnaround” is a tribute to great musicians of Tulsa’s past, as well as its musical institutions, such as Cain’s Ballroom and Mercury Lounge.

Among the other great performances from Tulsa Turnaround during Eady’s set were “Angelene,” “Work No More,” “You Make It Easy,” “Mean Spirits,” a good tune for today’s world, and “Mississippi Blues Man,” a tribute to the late J.C. Cannon, an old blues picker who taught Eady how to play.

Eady performed seven of the new album’s 11 tracks on Tuesday night. It’s an album you should definitely check out and will probably wind up as one of the best of the year in the Americana and country genres.

Among the other memorable performances from Eady’s set were “Why I Left Atlanta,” from 2017’s self-titled album, “I Lost My Mind in Carolina, off 2018’s I Travel On, and “Back to Jackson,” from 2007’s Wild Eyed Serenade, the oldest song from his repertoire he performed at Stickyz.

Eady finished the night off with one more track from Tulsa Turnaround, with “Stay Up or Get Down,” a song he told the audience that he set out to write in the style of Cale. I think he succeeded.

Addison Johnson, a country singer-songwriter originally from North Carolina and based out of Nashville, opened the night at Stickyz, and he’s a performer you must look out for. He performed a handful of tracks off his upcoming album, The State I’m In, which releases on June 26, and songs like the title track and “Flames” are proof that it’s going to be a must-listen.