By Tim Webb

Jackson Rohm Acoustic Sessions

For a stridently independent artist, Jackson Rohm’s album output is rather impressive: six full-length albums in under a decade. Self-releasing that many albums is a mark that shows, for someone who probably doesn’t sell a whole lot of records, he believes wholeheartedly in his art. As he should.

Acoustic Sessions finds the pop country singer dialing his already feathery-light music down to sparse, unplugged pop songs. The 14 songs, all written by Rohm, abide by the standards for modern country music; quick bridges that explode into choruses the size of Montana’s sky, flairs of pedal steel guitar and rich fiddle accompaniments.

But there’s evidence Rohm possesses a little more heart than the guy singing about a lady thinking his tractor’s sexy. His arrangements are surprisingly dense and his vivid vocals are on display every song. Some of the album lulls and falls victim to sounding like the easy-listening background noise pumped through the speakers at every Starbucks but those moments are rare. Rohm keeps releasing his music because he crafts quality music with his unflashy songwriting. And Acoustic Sessions serves as a pleasant reminder.

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