New Release: My America 3: My Country from Jim Self

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My America 3: My Country from Jim Self
Label:  Basset Hound Music
Release Date:  June 13, 2025
Website:  https://www.bassethoundmusic.com

Tuba player and fluba (part tuba, part flugelhorn) practitioner Jim Self presents his 24th album My America 3: My Country with arrangements by Kim Scharnberg.  A collection of jazz-izfied country tunes that pay respect to their Americana roots, coalesce square dance meters with Dixieland decor, swing-themed embellishments, southern rock riffs, synth pop glitter, and big band swells.  Opening with Self's original work “Chomping at the Bit,”  the track is tethered to a country-folk shuffle supporting Self's meandering toots on the fluba, with guitar inserts countered by intervals of a slinking fiddle and puffing horns.  “Wabashed” is a mash up of the hillbilly anthem “Wabash Cannonball” and Ervin T. Rouse's “Orange Blossom Special,” two songs about trains with the percussive beats and chugging fiddle loops alluding to the mighty heaving of a locomotive.  

Scharnberg and Self pay homage Dolly Parton’s perennial jewel “Jolene” with a slowed down arrangement that features haunting verses by Self on tuba and fiery guitar riffs by Fister on slide guitar, tucking in a short clip taken from a motif in "Staying Alive," an iconic tune by the Bee Gees.  The billowy soundscapes framing Self's adaptation of Jimmy Webb's hit song "Wichita Lineman" propel the listener in an upward crest, turning into a rollicking square dance meets Dixieland jazz along "Rocky Top," penned by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant.  Self's innate sensibilities to crossover musical styles is laudable as Hank Williams’s trademark tune “Your Cheatin’ Heart" is transformed by a bossa nova tempo and trimmings, wrapping up the album with the torchlight atmosphere of “I Can’t Stop Loving You," a melody by William Nicholls. Self sticks to the traditions built into country, jazz and pop/rock stock.  All of which are tenets of Americana music.

Social Media Links:
Facebook.com/JimSelfMusic

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