Review in Maverick Magazine (UK) - april issue 2010
American Tune
Comme Les Chansons 217209

They say ‘Beatnik Americana’—I say ‘Top quality adult pop music’

JP Den Tex is Dutch; sounds British and sings about America. Confused? You won’t be after you listen to AMERICAN TUNE; JP’s 16th long playing record. He recorded his first album, TORTILLA in 1971 and has been recording when the mood takes him ever since. JP has had a fascination with all things Americana since his teenage years and AMERICAN TUNE is full of reminisces of being stranded in Tucson, Arizona or reaching Phoenix on a Greyhound Bus and then roaming the streets of San Francisco. There is a very ‘English feel’ to the overall sound of the album; by which I mean Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello territory.

Love so Helpless and Hero are both hopeless love songs that must have been written at 3am with only a tabby cat and a cold cup of coffee for company. The Dreamer and Bowbow are real down-home Americana and stay with you like the after taste of a quality Bourbon. JP goes all Continental on us with Mon Desir Noir and Un Amour Fou a San Francisco but even these two songs are littered with Franglais like Geraint Watkins occasionally does on his albums.

There is a genuine warmth throughout AMERICAN TUNE and is nicely finished with a ska-shboom shuffle on Vagabond Heart and the toe tapping finale We’ll Sweep Out The Ashes (In the Morning) which is a swinging duet with Vera Van den Poel and will stay with me for a long long time. It’s very difficult to find fault with AMERICAN TUNE and I’m genuinely glad to have discovered such a rare talent as JP Den Tex. AH

02-01-2010