Jon Randall - Walking Among the Living
By: Maxine Macpherson

Jon Randall has been around Nashville for a long time. He has been a sideman for such stars as EmmyLou Harris and Lyle Lovett. He’s worked with Patty Loveless, Trisha Yearwood and Linda Ronstadt, among others. He’s released 4 early CDs, but on September 20, Randall will prove himself a singer/songwriter with a new CD called Walking Among the Living.

Randall has written or co-written 13 of the 14 songs included on the new album. He has a unique soft-spoken style that sets him apart from many of today’s newest country edgy performers – Keith Anderson, Big and Rich, Gretchen Wilson. The melodies return to more familiar country rhythms and his lyrics prove that he can write songs that everyone can identify with.

The CD cuts range from blues and rock to the bluegrass music Randall grew up on. Born February 17, 1969 in Dallas, Texas, Randall was introduced to music at an early age. His father played in a bluegrass band and his mother played dobro. Randall received his first guitar when he was only 6 years old.

After high school, he moved to Nashville to begin songwriting. He formed his own band and played with others, finally landing his own recording contract. He produced several CDs but they did not contain many songs that he wrote and two of the record companies folded just as his CDs were released. This time it should and will be different.

The opening song, “Baby Won’t You Come Home,” is a simple request for a lost love’s return:

“I’m tired of smoking cigarettes
I’m tired of my own whisky breath
I’m tired of crying without warning
Staying up til morning
Baby won’t you come home…”

This is the CD’s first video and shows Randall walking off with an electric guitar tethered to an amplifier on a very long cord that unwinds slowly as he walks the streets, railroad tracks and eventually drives off. The cord finally let’s go as the camera fades back from him standing alone in the middle of a stretch of highway.

Randall has called on several old Nashville friends to provide terrific harmony on a few of the songs. Jessi Alexander provides vocals on the title song, “Walking Among the Living”, a song of redemption and renewal. Alison Krauss guests on “No Southern Comfort,” a sad descriptive song about leaving and not finding anything left to take away the pain. Sonya Isaacs adds harmony on “North Carolina Moon,” a beautiful song about yearning for a return home.

Patty Loveless joins him on one of the best songs, “I Shouldn’t Do This” – an all too familiar tale of how easy it is to slip into the wrong relationship.

“I shouldn’t do this
Was the last thing I heard me say
As I gave her a ride
Cause she had to much to drink
She gave herself so freely
I just could not resist
I told myself
I shouldn’t do this…”

Other songs, including the rocking “Austin” and “Coming Back for More” provide an upbeat change. Randall’s version of the award winning song he co-wrote, “Whisky Lullaby” (Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss) is lovely and makes you wonder why he would give up this song. “My Life”, the only song not written by Randall, is the only bluegrass number included.

A favorite is sure to be the simple song, “Lonely For Awhile.” The lyrics talk about a lost relationship and about how friends try to fix you up but what you really need is time to heal, time to cry and that it’s alright to be lonely for awhile.

“Walking Among the Living” shows why sometimes you have to just let your heart lead the way. Randall seems to have been sidetracked for a few years as he toured with other performers, but he now has a chance to return to the reason he moved to Nashville to begin with – writing his own songs and who better to sing them?