Jesse Woods

Some genres are more vulnerable than others to having an artist's musical influences stick out distractedly — folk and country chief amongst them. Allowing the legends a stake in the process while maintaining a conscious distance from their threat to originality can take years to master. But Austin, TX-based songwriter Jesse Woods nails it on his first full-length try. The haunting subtleties guiding the nine tracks of Get Your Burdens Lifted make space for the ghosts of van Zandt and Nilsson, but ultimately, Woods is on his own, experimenting with swoony, acoustic-led beach vibes on opener "Walk Along Cattle Drives," delicate string arrangements ("Danger in the Dancehall") and distant, thundering drums for the atmospheric "Lazerburn." Contemporary styles on standouts "Cold Blood" and "Gold in the Air" draw comparisons to M.Ward, but there's something unique about Woods's approach. Get Your Burdens Lifted does raise dark things — booze-blurred musings, dusky harmonies and stark acoustic arrangements — into a dreamy, reverb-laced collection of tunes where backwoods roughage shimmers with the polish of modern production.