Two Cent Revival

"Matt Jones is a singer-songwriter with a lot going for him: his stage presence, his interesting, original songs, and especially his phrasing. He is a great storyteller." - Jimmy Norman, song-writer

"Two Cent Revival perform with an energy that is seldom witnessed with an acoustic guitar as the lead instrument. The primary catalyst is Jones himself, whose rich, deep voice projects every note, ensuring all within ear shot receive a proper introduction to his lovingly crafted songs. Don’t miss his live show!" - jezebelmusic.com

Calling all Johnny Cash fans! He's been somewhat reincarnated in the form of Two Cent Revival, who will release his debut EP The Devil's in This Whiskey on June 15th. TCT has an amazing baritone voice -- think a young, hip Johnny Cash-- and he just dropped his debut single of the same name. I took a listen and yeah, he definitely has the same stylings as the legendary Johnny Cash.

A little info about TCR: it's the new project from Brazilian-born, Texas-raised singer/songwriter Matt Jones and it mixes folk-tinged Americana and classic country elements with dark lyrical themes and an acoustic-focused rock band. Driven by Jones' baritone vocals, the songs hint at wooden barrooms and dusty churches, walking the line between failure and redemption.

On The Devil's in This Whiskey, Jones and his band add a harder edge to the sound he began developing on his previous release, Butter and Rum (2008). Produced by Alex Houton (Charlotte Sometimes, Bailey Grey), mixed by multiple Grammy Award winning engineer Brian Vibberts (Michael Jackson, Paul Simon, Dave Matthews Band), and mastered by David Ives, the new five song EP features a 1971 Fender Telecaster, a late 1930's Gibson Kalamazoo acoustic guitar, and a Kentucky mandolin to create a distinct vintage workhouse tone with a modern Americana bite. The usage of vintage equipment only serves to make it sound that much more real in an age of digitally tweaked, overworked and perfected to the point of being sterile music!

Written and arranged over three months between NYC and Red Bank, NJ, Jones' goal was to create a sound that was both musically appealing and lyrically interesting. "I wanted to be able to talk about shit on my mind, which wasn't necessarily happy, but have it still be catchy," he said.

With driving electric guitar and vintage acoustic guitar sounds, The Devil's in This Whiskey was heavily influenced by Jones' longing for his southern and southwestern roots. "I used to live on the bayou in Texas, where we'd drink cheap beer barefoot and hang out from late afternoon until well past sunset. I distinctly remember the smell of freshly cut grass and the whine of the mosquitoes in the summer," he said.

"Living in New York makes me realize how much I'm partial to the vibe of Texas and Tucson," he said. "I wanted to get out of it, but now I yearn to be back there."

Jones' predilection to the sights, sounds and details of home, evident only after his move to New York, has transformed him into an exceptional songwriter. Jimmy Norman, co-writer of "Time Is On My Side" said "Matt Jones [has] a lot going for him: his stage presence, his interesting, original songs, and especially his phrasing. He is a great storyteller." - artistdirect.com

Brazilian-born, Texas-raised singer/songwriter Matt Jones found love for his Texas roots only after making the move to New York City. The emotional resonance of being so far from home plays through Two Cent Revival's new EP, The Devil's In This Whiskey, available June 15, 2011. With a mature writing style born of the desolate honesty of Bob Dylan and Townes Van Zandt, Jones spins tales of emotional darkness and redemption, and the constant pull of both forces on the soul.

The Devil's In This Whiskey opens with "Rear View Mirror", a catchy, id-tempo Americana blend about running away from a past the narrator can't escape. This anthem of a tortured soul comes with recognition of the trap and in ability to stop running. Jones sounds a great deal like Paul Gross on vocals, with a steady baritone born of country grit and a touch of folk/rock seer. "The Devil's In This Whiskey" is a brilliant rune about losing control to the bottle, in spite of having every reason not to. He's gone to the well one too many times and spoiled the one relationship with any hope of keeping him sane. Jones begs for mercy, expecting none, in the beginning of a spiral of competing needs. It's an impressively compelling story-song with many layers.

"Give Me More Time" is catchy number about trying to pick someone up at a bar and being painfully aware of one's own inabilities while trying to make it look good for your friends. The internal conversation here is well-wrought, reflecting a man who spends too much time thinking and not enough simply doing as insecurities plague his every move. "Save Our Souls" starts out as a plaintive country/rock ballad, but turns into a Doors-esque epic rocker. Full of urgency and desperation, this tremendous piece of songwriting shows its progressive rock roots as things swing further and further out of balance. Two Cent Revival closes with "Back In The Day", a romantic retrospective based in a paucity of emotion. The narrator isn't certain about happiness, but remembers a time when life was simpler as a bright light. The solid Americana arrangement lends to the emotionally maudlin tenor of the song.

The songs on The Devil's In This Whiskey are well crafted Americana/country hybrids, but it is the personal story-telling style and pure charisma of Matt Jones that gives Two Cent Revival their wings. Jones would be equally as compelling alone on stage with a guitar as he is in front of a band, but the full band flavor of the recordings certainly gives additional oomph to Jones' tales of imperfection, pathos and hope. Two Cent Revival is going to make a lot of new fans with songs like this.

- Wildy's World

Two Cent Revival – The Devil’s In This Whiskey

I was able to interview Matt Jones, lead singer and songwriter of Two Cent Revival, a couple years back. He’s a nice guy – earnest about his music, amiable, a little bit dorky when you ‘re discussing other subjects. I remember thinking at the time that I could have envisioned myself playing piano or video games with him. It always comes as somewhat of a surprise, then, when you hear his voice: a deep, hard baritone that feels like it would be most at home in a Johnny Cash or Neil Diamond recording. Jones’ new project, Two Cent Revival, features a grittier sound than his earlier releases, and for the most part it’s for the better. I’ve often felt that there needed to be drive with his previous acoustic sets; Two Cent revival provides a soundscape that’s immediately more gripping than earlier efforts.

The sound in question is firmly rooted in open-road Americana and country folk rock. Two Cent Revival’s bandmembers provide a sometimes suitable, usually excellent accompaniment, and are willing to go beyond the usual standards in southwest rock. Jones is smart in his choice of instrumentation – good examples being the mandolin on “Back In The Day” and the picked acoustic and distorted harmonic on the title track. (Incidentally, I thought that one had a hokey title – was the second choice “This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us?” – until I heard it. It’s fantastic, and earns its namesake.) “Give Me More Time” is a clinic in song craftsmanship any member of the Eagles might have given in their own time, and “Save Our Souls” hits the bleak, open-road feel out of the park. Jones produces his strongest songwriting in these types of moments, when chooses to channel the dark, wandering feel so often present in music from his native Texas. There’s plenty of that to go around here, and it represents a mature development in his evolution as an artist.

There are a few half-misses, too: Jones has a lyric or two that sound out of place – for instance, I don’t believe the phrase, “Sorry for being mean” is meant to be sung by such a rich, masculine voice. And there are a couple awkward phrasings: “Oh my girl you sound awfully kind / I like that / No bullshit, I think that we could work” in the otherwise excellent “Give me more time” being an example. But in the end Two Cent Revival gives us something that’s sorely lacking in the musicians coming out of Brooklyn – deep, memorable, emotional, and most of all mature songs that evoke the best and sturdiest of classic rock, rather than the most twee of the indie scene. There are more than a few places in The Devil’s In This Whiskey where I found myself thinking, “this is the indie scene when it decides to grow a pair.” I look forward to their next effort, if only because an LP promises us twice as much music. - audiocred.com

Here’s something novel: a commercially viable country song that isn’t produced to within an inch of its life. It’s to Two-Cent Revival’s credit that I could imagine “The Devil’s in this Whiskey” sitting pretty on the VH1 Top 20 Countdown amidst the shiny likes of Taylor Swift and the Civil Wars; it’s a well put together country tune that many people will enjoy. The difference here is that Two-Cent Revival’s song sounds like it was composed and played by actual human beings. The flowery string sections and anti-septic scrub characteristic of most radio-ready country is mercifully absent in favor of clean acoustic and electric guitar, mandolin, and a convincing blues harp solo at the bridge. It may have even been recorded live to the floor. Truly the mind reels.

Two-Cent Revival is helmed by one Matt Jones, a Texas-bred, New York City-residing singer-songwriter. His trump card is a miles-deep baritone that immediately calls Mark Lanegan to mind, albeit a friendlier, less blatantly homicidal version. The title track off his band’s recent EP is pretty standard variation on the textbook, woe-is-me drinking story common to his chosen genre, but it’s exceedingly well constructed, with a deft key change signaling a chorus that will lodge in your head for days. Jones’ backing band revels in warm production values that place a premium on instrument separation, and the result is a classic-sounding, non-cloying country song among the most pleasant I’ve heard this year. - cokemachineglow.com

"The Brooklyn-based down-home country folk act brings a rock edge to this brand new EP of smartly crafted tunes."
- AOL Music