Far too often, the religious element of Jewish pop music seems to come at the price of unoriginality and low production values. So it was with some trepidation that I started listening to Banjo Billy, the 11 track debut album by Pinchas Spicer, who wrote the music and lyrics, plays the banjo on and produced all the songs on this album, recorded recently in Tsfat Israel. I'm happy to say that five seconds into the first track my fears proved to be groundless. With a substantial backing band of eight highly polished musicians, the songs practically jump off the CD with energy and excitement. The musical style of the album is firmly in the American folk music genre, clearly delineated by th line-up of banjo, harmonica, mandolin, guitars, clarinet, violin, bass, keyboards and percussion.
The themes of the songs are very personal, reflecting the trials and tribulations Pinchas faced on his journey to becoming an observant Jew. The first two tracks, "Banjo Billy" and " soul Searching , introduce us to his growing awareness that there's more to life as he sets out on his spiritual journey. Several of the other songs - "I'm a Car", "Sweet Gifts", "Do You Mind?", and "Right before Our Eyes"- explore his relationship to G-d and his place in the world.However, despite the serious nature of the journey, throughout the album Pinchas maintains an upbeat attitude, always looking on the wacky side of life. Topics such as making Aliya ("Lech Lecha"), starting to keep kosher ("Kosher Boy") and becoming observant ("One More Mitzvah") all provide humorous fodder for his catchy banjo-backed melodies. While most of the album is in English, with the occasional Hebrew word and "yeeee-ha" exclamation sprinkled in for good measure, the last song ("T'kah B"Shofar") is entirely in Hebrew, based on a common prayer, It would be interesting to hear Pinchas come up with original lyrics in Hebrew for his next album which had better not be too far behind.
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