You know you’re doing something right when you get voted among the 10 New Country Artists You Need To Know via Rolling Stone Country- and that’s exactly where Thorp Jenson found himself this past September. You can check out the article HERE.
Jenson’s recently released album “Odessa” offers several tracks that act as enchanting, soulful lullabies that can send one drifting into space with his mesmerizing voice and lyrics, echoing guitar riffs, and pulsating yet subtle synth sounds that keep the tunes delicately humming along. This can largely be heard in his song “Lost in a Moment” or his cover of Modern English’s “Melt With You.”
And then you have tracks like “Oklahoma” which channel some Exile on Main Street-era Keith Richards guitar twang, and provide for some solid foot tappin’ beer sippin’ Midwest heartland rock. Jenson emulates some of the blue-collar rock greats like Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen, or for a more modern example, Ryan Adams.
After years of building a name for himself as a sidekick guitarist in the Richmond, Virginia music scene, Jenson is now poised to break out as a vibrant songwriter and dynamic frontman with his own story to tell. He provides “music that makes you want to spend all night in a Southern dive bar and wake up the next morning just to drive across the country- and his music is at home in either scenario”- and we’re not going to dispute that.
As an early music fan who “hit the ground running” with ’90s grunge, Jenson also found inspiration from his dad’s record collection, which included classic rock staples like the Grateful Dead and Derek and the Dominos. But above all else, he was most moved by Tom Petty’s album “Wildflowers”, which came out when he was in seventh grade. “It’s just one of those albums,” Jenson says. “That record, to me—it’s just perfect.”
You can learn more about Jenson and listen to his songs on his website HERE.
