Jake Wasson M.D.

About

If you threw folk punk, blues, and alt country in a blender, you'd get a smoothie that tastes like Jake Wasson M.D.'s music sounds. He's hard enough to classify without the gender bending, trash-glam aesthetic, and yet the parts form a compelling whole. Drawing influence from The Mountain Goats, AJJ, The White Stripes, Robbie Fulks, and Ani DiFranco, Wasson wails his confessional lyrics over gritty arrangements, crafted layer by layer. Wasson snarls, croons, and yodels in vocal acrobatics up and down his impressive vocal range. Guitar and harmonica central to his sound, but Wasson himself provides additional instrumentation on banjo, bass, mandolin, percussion, and backing vocals. He even tackles production and creates his own artwork. Still, Wasson is a songwriter first. His wordplay is intricate. His references are obscure. His storytelling is precise, funny, vulnerable, and scathing. Where else can you find koalas, witchcraft, and the Russian region of Kamchatka, all in a single track ("The Eucalyptus Song"), or hear how, for an anxious mind living in strange times, the simple act of buying a beverage can spiral into thoughts of the apocalypse ("Fountain Soda")? Jake Wasson M.D. was born in Springfield, Missouri and now resides in Providence, Rhode Island. He is a fixture of the Providence scene, where he plays regularly both as a solo act and with his band, The Jake Wasson M.D. Malpractice.

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