J. Wilms: “The Fighter” (2023) CD Review

Jeremy Wilms, who generally goes by J. Wilms, lived in New York City for many years, working as a session and touring musician with a diverse group of artists. Then when the pandemic began, a time when many folks took a fresh look at their lives, he moved back to Atlanta, Georgia to focus on his songwriting and his solo career. His new album, The Fighter, features all original material written during the past few years. Joining him on this disc are Nick Robbins on bass, Bo Bedingfield on drums, and Julia Haltigan on backing vocals.

The album opens with “All The Roads,” which has a positive folk bent, with some sweet work on guitar and a nice bass line, and even includes some whistling. It’s a song about figuring things out, not going in a straight line, but rather following that crazy path that life often leads us up and down. It’s both a song of self-discovery and a love song. Here is a taste of the lyrics: “And then one day I heard a voice speak clearly/From the inside/You've gotten lost/Stop running from who you are/You can't hide/I circled back around/After all this time/Now I have you next to me/We're changed but the same.” And I love these lines: “May all the roads/Take you where you're going/But not too far.” That’s followed by “Born To Die,” which is the song that got me excited about this album. A video for this song was released a little while back. The first time I heard this song, its first line made me laugh out loud, and then nearly had me crying a second later. That first line is “Everything born is born to die.” So true. Sometimes we find ourselves morbid about such thoughts, but the best way to approach them is with some humor and acceptance, and that is what J. Wilms does here, even as he sings, “Guess I’ll hang my head and cry.” Death has been on my mind a lot the last several years. How couldn’t it be? It’s in the air, isn’t it? Check out these lines: “Some people claim to have the answers/The truth’s for them to show/But the truth’s a slippery dancer/I only know that I don’t know.” There is a friendly and sweet vibe to this song, which is what we need, and I love that guitar work. And it helps put things into perspective, doesn’t it? This is one of the album’s best tracks.

Then “Hey My” opens with some beautiful guitar work. In this song’s first line, J. Wilms directly addresses the people he left at the beginning of the pandemic: “Hey my New York City friends/How you been, have you missed me?” The pandemic caused many of us to reevaluate our priorities, and it seems J. Wilms came to the conclusion that a lot of us did: “One thing I have learned/Friends and family/Are everything to me.” I’ve said this before, but I really do hope someone will put together a comprehensive book about the way musicians responded to the pandemic, about the music that came as a result of the whole situation. This song is another of the disc’s highlights. That’s followed by “I’ll Start Tomorrow.” Ah yes, a song for those of us who tend to procrastinate, those of us who intend to get a whole lot done soon. Soon, I tell you, and I mean it. So this song had me smiling in recognition right from its start. “I’m gonna sit and write a song/It’s gonna be epic and strong/Put all the feelings that I felt for so long/I’ll start tomorrow and write a song.” Plus, this track has a rather delightful sound.

“Props” has a more serious and somber vibe. “I’ve been thinking about the seams that come apart/Where one wall ends and another starts/And I feel that there's too much to do/It’s a subtle art to keep the lines all true.” Too much to do, indeed. Where does one start? And then there is some nice work on trombone by special guest Dave “Smoota” Smith. But one of the things that help make this song so effective is that J. Wilms keeps the sound from being too full, too crowded. The focus remains on the lyrics. “Sometimes I want to toss it all/But I’m in it for the long haul.” In “Stopping On A Dime” there is also some self-reevaluation. “The pain I felt has made me reconsider/How I treat you so unkind/I’m glad you stopped to let me know/Instead of just letting me go/You gave me time to wrestle with my demons/And let the love inside me grow.” And these lines speak not just of the pandemic, but of the political and social states of our nation: “This old world has got me down/Something strange is going around/People live in fear of one another/The hate is making us all weak.” So true. And yet this song is hopeful, and is in its way a love song. “Make me anything for you,” he repeats.

“The Fighter,” the album’s title track, has a western vibe. “I’ve been writing all night/Hammering out the words I think will make a decent song/Trying to write a song to make things right.” There are a couple of brief moments that remind me of Paul Simon. J. Wilms, as you’ve gathered by now, has a talent for writing good lyrics. Check out these lines from “Wolf Song”: “I am not scared, but I feel betrayed/By the ghost that lives here/Sweet in my ear just as I awake/With the myths that I’ve made.” The album concludes with “Yes I Know,” another of its highlights, even if it does employ that “self”/“shelf” rhyme that I dislike. What I especially love is the sound and feel of its chorus: “Oh yes, I know/Oh well, I know/Everything that’s good comes to an end/Oh yes, I know/Oh, now I know/We start it all over again and again and again.” It is ultimately a hopeful and positive song, this album leaving us in a better place than we were in before it started.

CD Track List

1. All The Roads
2. Born To Die
3. Hey My
4. I’ll Start Tomorrow
5. Props
6. Stopping On A Dime
7. The Fighter
8. Wolf Song
9. Yes I Know

The Fighter was released on December 8, 2023 (though interestingly the copyright date on the back of the CD case is 2024).