Search - Jefferson Thomas :: Western Front

When you crank out a dozen or so pieces of guitar-driven "indie/twang/alt-rock with a hangover" and then call it WESTERN FRONT, you're bound to stir up some heady expectations. And when you stray from love songs, sexual encounters, and personal demons into middle-eastern wars, leftist demagogues, illegal immigration, and the dumbing-down of American society, you have to be careful. And if you bake your cake with American rock and roots music and then frost it with sturm-and-drang string arrangements, forget it - you can't really cry foul if someone accuses you of going for something iconic, or seeking your "Bono moment". "By 'Western Front', I mean things confronting us, from outside and from within", explains Thomas. "Globally, America is everybody's a--hole these days, but at the same time, we re not being particularly brilliant on the home front, either." Jefferson s earliest memories are of a nightly ritual, played over and over again, ten thousand times. Waking up just before dawn to the old man's headlights shining in his bedroom window. The familiar bang of a guitar amp slamming against the front door, followed by a reassuring string of four-letter words. Good. Dad made it home again. He d drift back off to sleep, only to be awakened just a few hours later by his mother, a singer. He d smell coffee and hear the stereo roaring to life, beckoning him into a world with never enough money, but more wealth than anyone could imagine. Some kids might be able to fight the currents of such a childhood, but by his eleventh birthday, Thomas had thrown up his hands and surrendered, sitting in on bass for the old man's gigs. Within a year the kid had switched to guitar and was writing his own songs. At fifteen he was playing clubs, fairs, and festivals all over the Northeast, and before long he was plying his wares to audiences all over the U.S. WESTERN FRONT is fourteen tracks of Jefferson Thomas unique blend of rock and alt.country, recorded in New York and Los Angeles and spiced up by Thomas s top-notch touring band as well as personnel from Sheryl Crow, The Dixie Chicks, Bon Jovi, Beyonce, and others. Jefferson is already off and running in 2008, with the song Thursday s Girl featured in the upcoming Matthew Broderick film Finding Miranda, as well as plenty of touring (U.S. and overseas), and the resumption of his outdoor Artist Residency series in New York s Central Park and Union Square.