Jefferson Berry & the UAC - Born into a Blizzard (2025)

Strong and Wise Songs For Adult Orientated Rockers. Jefferson Berry is a folksinger and songwriter who has healthy roots in the Philadelphia Folk Music scene, and is an active force within the The Philadelphia Folksong Society’s Musical Artist Cooperative (formerly the Philly Music Co-op). Drawing together his band the UAC, Jefferson has recorded and now released a new album this week: Born Into A Blizzard.

Born Into a Blizzard is, generally, an optimistic affair with mandolin, acoustic guitar and occasional violin melodies that occupies a space midway between a bluegrass frenzy and a slower darker setting – balancing a healthy dose of optimistic energy without being sugary. Jefferson writes traditional folk songs with a little modern shaker and instrumental touches too, as the lyrics tell tales of coping, working to see the bright side, and just prescriptions for making it through.

“Leaving Santa Maria” sets up an easygoing pace in a song about finally leaving everything that once meant home, when you hadn’t really planned on being alone: “things were always what they were / to her it was all she’d known / graveyard shift at the winery, driving lift to fill the gaps.” There’s always hope that there’s something more out there beyond the limits of the current horizon. The violin and mandolin take turns in call and response here with lovely complex melody riffs and the beat stays bouncy.

In “Guitar On the River” the liveliness continues with rich spiral of string playing and a tale of playing guitar on the Delaware River. “Thirty Miles to the Beach” adds layers and touches of jazz influences with saxophones taking melodies and punctuated drums, and “he’d never got around to showing her the world, and it’s only thirty miles to the beach.”

“This Dawn of Mine” returns to highlighting acoustic guitar and mandolin while Jefferson sings of waking up early before the hustle and bustle begins: “the kitchen is lit, and outside the room it’s dark / willing to kill time in this dawn of mine / don’t worry about tomorrow.”

“Philly Eats Its Own” is a stepped-up bluesy affair chronicling those times when the big city and throngs of humanity are indifferent to each other’s talents – a tale of disappointments recounted through the perspective of a hardworking musician who has had one too many nights playing to audiences who talk through the show. “Sleeping in Public” again features a story of an exhausted hard worker in the city, “sometimes you’ll take a break, sometimes the break takes you / dreams of modern living in America it’s true /you don’t have to fight but you can never quit / end up overwhelmed and sleeping in public.” In these songs that come from a more discouraged perspective, the rhythm stays upbeat enough, but pulls back enough to signify all isn’t exactly rosy.

Jefferson Berry’s urban acoustic folk style is broadly relatable and translates to the listener with a blend of wry elegance. The stringed instruments are quite beautiful to listen to within the reality-based vignettes he spins.