Leaving Jack’s career at that point would be like saying…”Abe Lincoln? Didn’t he write speeches?”

Jack was indeed Shake’s bass player, his cohort in songwriting and the melody voice on many of those old favorites from the Houston based folk band. Since those days, Jack Saunders has founded one of the most successful recording studios in Texas and lent his talented ear to help a lot of musicians (including Clint Black, Dale Watson and Susan Gibson) on to popular recording careers. Jack has played as a session musician and has put out four discs of his own, the latest of which is “Grit and Jangle”.

Jack says that he coined the phrase when he was complimenting Greg Trooper on his disc, “The Williamsburg Affair”, saying that it had “grit and jangle”. Jack decided to use the phrase to title a disc that he would dedicate to the lives of travelling singer/songwriters. Jack tapped the talents of a number of Texas names like Rick Poss, Casper Rawls and Tommy Dar Dar for musical contributions to this well crafted recording.

This recording does indeed “jangle” from the progressive C&W, “Mustache on the Mona Lisa” to the Cajun “Acadian Angel”, a Russell/Saunders/Cooper tune released previously on their collaboration, “The Thrill of Love”. Every song is carefully conceived and brilliantly executed with a clean but simple and direct production that delivers the lyrics to the listener’s mind. “Raindrops” is one of those tunes best heard with your eyes closed, so that you feel every note.

As the son of a native Houstonian and a 44 year resident myself, I can’t help but believe that the local chamber of commerce should be chasing Mr. Saunders around, begging to use his “If You’re Ever in Houston” for an ad campaign. The Celtic prayer, “Saints be Kind” reminds one of the drought driven wild fires of a couple of years ago and how people banded together to save what was most important…each other.

My personal favorite tune on the disc is titled simply “Trust” and bears the line “the one thing that will matter when life’s reduced to dust is that someone thought enough of you to trust”. It’s a powerful line, delivered on a subtle, but equally powerful guitar solo, by Jack himself.

This one is worth several listens just to crack the surface and worth a few more spins to get in deep. You can find Jack Saunders’ “Grit and Jangle” at a record store near you.