Yesterday’s Coffee – Out May 10
Yesterday’s Coffee, the new album from Jomo & The Possum Posse, finds the band expanding their songwriting horizons and exploring new musical territory.
Inspired by his musical heroes and purveyors of shrewd humor like Todd Snider and John Prine, bandleader Jomo Edwards’s songs combine perceptive lyrics and self-deprecating satire. Jomo has received national recognition from the likes of the NewSong and Mid-Atlantic Song Contests, among others, and in 2020, Jomo took home top prize at MerleFest’s prestigious Chris Austin Songwriting Contest.
Jomo also undertook the task of writing a song a week during the entirety of the pandemic, which kept his songwriting chops up to speed and lead to some fresh creative ideas, musically and lyrically. Before long, fellow bandmate and long-time collaborator, Jes Clifford, joined in the weekly process and the assignment grew to include recording full-fledged demos. By the time the world started to open up again, the two had hashed out more than enough material for a new album, and Jomo enlisted another of his musical heroes to help make it a reality.
Produced by Austin-icon Kevin Russell (Shinyribs, The Gourds, 2024 Austin Musician of the Year), Yesterday’s Coffee shimmers with groovy confidence and melts with the sweat of unbridled precision. Featuring the likes of Keith Langford (Shinyribs, The Gourds) and Dan Creamer (The Texas Gentlemen, Shakey Graves), the album runs the roots-music gamut with a persistent emphasis on groove and Edwards’ smart songwriting. Shades of Motown and Disco are heard on the opening track ‘Driving Down from Detroit’. On the title track, the band pays homage to legendary Tex-Mex supergroup Texas Tornadoes. The quirky, off-kilter rhythms of ‘Seen Whatcha Done’ and ‘La Quinta’ are based on demos Edwards and Clifford recorded.
Quieter moments on the record include “Snakebite Jenny,” a gentle ballad built around Jomo’s finger-picked guitar and patient fiddle, and “White Claw Angels,” a story of misguided love and small-town crime featuring soaring background vocals from Alice Spencer. Clifford’s airy and playful guitar accompanies Edwards as he discusses headline news and Columbian drug-lords on “Cocaine Hippos”. The song ‘I Lost It’ is a brief foray in finding the common ground between Irish fiddle and Country-shuffle, subtly enhanced by a micro-dose of psychedelic rock. Bluegrass-infused rave-up ‘The House is Buring’ and rocker ‘Train of Thought’ bring the energy to a boiling point before Edward’s sits down and contemplates everything we’ve heard so far on the closing track ‘Dandelion.’
Weaving in Jomo’s trademark knack for storytelling and melody, along with the band’s formidable musicality that serves as the through-line in their previous albums, Yesterday’s Coffee is more personal than the band’s previous releases… and more mature. But those familiar with earlier records by Jomo & The Possum Posse will be pleased to find their characteristic humor and dark optimism remain fully intact.