Jay Bolotin - Jay Bolotin (Reissue) (1970/2009)

He was born and raised in Kentucky (must have been a tough place for a young Jewish kid to grow up). Graduating high school he attended the Rhode Island School of Design and began playing original material in local coffee houses and clubs. Those dates put him into contact with local musician Ken Lyon who convinced Bolotin to start playing dates with his own group The Tombstone Blues Band. Lyon in turn helped him score a recording contract with ABC, though the resulting album was released by the small Commonwealth United label. Given he was only 18 at the time, 1970's cleverly-titled "Jay Bolotin" offered a surprisingly impressive and accomplished set of singer/songwriter material. Like lots of his folk contemporaries Bolotin had a deep and slightly ragged voice that wasn't immediately attractive, but actually grew on you after awhile. A couple of reviews have drawn comparison's to Leonard Cohen, though to my ears his voice was actually far better than Cohen's. Featuring ten Bolotin originals, songs like 'Jimmy's Got a Music Box' (which he subsequently turned into a New York theater piece), 'Trinketman' and 'You Are a Woman' covered the usual array of teenaged angst packed themes, including lost love, dysfunctional relationships, the roaming life, etc. Yeah, some of it has a dated sound, but then cut him some slack as he was only 18 at the time ... The album also had a distinctive 'live' feel to it; at a minimum it didn't sound like producer Lyon spent a lot of time and energy on post-production work. Ironically, that proved one of the album's strengths. Backed by a fantastic pickup band, including Lyon on bass, Fugs drummer Bobby Mason, guitarist David Mowry, and keyboardist Mark Taber about half of the tracks featured electric arrangements. Mind you, nothing here exactly rocked out, but songs like 'Dear Father', 'I'm Not Asking You' and 'Winter Woman' certainly benefited from the fuller instrumentation. Unfortunately the Commonwealth United label collapsed shortly after the album was released, leaving the album to instant obscurity. Bolotin continued touring, winning fans within the folk musician community, though little attention elsewhere.