……What the sixteen tracks will demonstrate, beyond Joe’s trademark finesse and sincerity, is his understated intensity and ease with a variety of styles and subject matter; Damo Farmer, Derrick “D.O.A.” Allen and Gerald Issac anchor his explorations into both the familiar and unfamiliar. We know Joe is proficient with the boudoir skills (“Lay You Down”) and putting the ladies on a pedestal (“Celebrate You”), as well as pleading his case for happily-ever-after (“Lean Into It”). The swagalicious “No Chance,” is a declaration to a neglected woman that her current man will become an afterthought once she switches teams: “You was wastin’ so much of your time tryin’ to make him see, but he’s just not me/He started the war, now he’s a casualty, I’m the result of what used to be.”
His jump-sharp fashion sense and come-hither good looks aside, Joe keeps the ladies coming back with unabashed vulnerability: The happiness of his woman is Joe’s No. 1 mission according to “Love Centric,” while the urgent “So I Can Have You Back” catalogs the mistakes Joe made with an ex as he hopes for a do-over if his replacement falls short. “Hurricane” compares a woman’s effect on his heart to a quiet storm he can only surrender to: “Beautiful destruction, caught up in your velvet riptide, you swept me away/Rain of seduction, my sweet Novocain…..my comfort, my pain.”
Folks long knew of Joe’s gospel leanings via his GA roots, but “Hollow” is a pure country midtempo….(Please click here to read the full-length review at soultracks.com)
