Jangling Sparrows - Paul Edelman embraces creative songwriting with no boundaries

Jangling Sparrows have cultivated a passionate, loyal following with original, arresting and reverent music. Yet upon deeper examination into the poetic psyche of their singer songwriter, Paul Edelman, as he weaves into song; reflections on life, the American myths, his love of touring and the people he meets on the road, all while journeying to realm of expression known as Indy-Americana.  Indy-Americana, according to Paul, offers a creative songwriting guideline where there are no boundaries, and is where rock and roll went… when it stopped being pop. 

Vizions of Rock:  Where did the name come from and why?

JANGLING SPARROWS: It’s actually kind of sarcastic. I had been in a couple pretty big bands that I didn’t start, and, in both cases, it was something where everyone got along, everyone shared the same vision, we partied together, same musical tastes, the whole thing. So, I just naively assumed that’s the way it always worked. I found out pretty quickly that is most definitely not the case. Jangling Sparrows was invented as kind of an image of people fluttering in and out of the band because I couldn’t keep the same people for very long. It just got comical. But it also had a nice Americana vibe to it, so it stuck.

Vizions of Rock:  How did the band come together and how long have you been together?

JANGLING SPARROWS: The band officially formed about 2005 or 06 in Philly. The name followed me down to Asheville, I discovered, in some radio interviews people would ask me about it. So, I kept using it. The current line up came together pretty naturally actually. They both reached out and expressed an interest unsolicited by me, so for me, that’s a big positive. I would say we’ve been at it together a little under a year.

Vizions of Rock:  You have worked with some seriously established individuals in the music industry.  What was it like working with founder of the legendary Muscles Shoals Studio, Jimmy Johnson? 

JANGLING SPARROWS: He was great. Although he kind of BS’ed us a little. A harmless innocuous BS, but the studio owner was a straight edge and didn’t want any of us drinking beer or anything when recording. So, I guess he figured if it came from Jimmy it would have more weight. Which it did, but he tried to convince us that he never allowed drinking or partying at Muscle Shoals. Among ourselves, we were like, “There’s literally a famous picture of Keith Richards chugging Jack Daniels behind the console.” We still cooperated though. And generally, he had great stories. He told us about his “chucks” on “Respect”. Everyone thinks that’s some kind of percussion instrument but it’s him on guitar with a heavy pick.

Vizions of Rock:  You spent a lot of time in Philly. What is the Philadelphia music scene like?

JANGLING SPARROWS: Well, I’ve been out of it for about 12 years now, but it was always very thriving. In fact, I’m expecting to get back often in the next couple years. They love their rock, man. From my social media interactions with my Philly peers it’s still great. For me, I really just left because, at the time, not knowing really how to do this I needed to be in a place more ensconced in music and musicians and someplace more central to opportunities.

Vizions of Rock:  You play the bass, banjo, six string guitars… any other instruments and do you write differently for each instrument?

JANGLING SPARROWS: I dabble on piano and keys. On my last record I was able to put some keyboard tracks down. I write everything on six string but if I had a piano, I’d probably start writing on that. I write bass parts but as a songwriter first, the bass part has to come second and serve the song, not be the song. There’s nothing wrong with that, in fact I once wrote a bass line for an old band that the songwriter built a song around, but generally it’s not my style. Although, I currently have an unreleased song that I wrote because an old drummer was messing around with a drum line in rehearsal, so I went home and built a song around it. That might be normal for a lot of artists, but I don’t often do that. And I do want a resonator guitar. Having played one several times, I’m absolutely positive that it would skew my songwriting in very cool ways. Just because of what it offers sonically.

Vizions of Rock:  How do you think the music industry has changed over the last 20 years and is there anything that you wish you could change about it?

JANGLING SPARROWS: The industry is split into pop and Americana/Rock/Indy. Rock hasn’t been pop music for a long time (with a few exceptions). That’s fine with me, supposedly, it helps people find a viable place to go, to promote themselves if they know they aren’t pop. My grievance, I guess is that there are a lot of pop artists on the way up that use the Roots Rock/Indy scene as a stepping stone and give nothing back. There’s no sense of community or support. And people aren’t going out to shows as much but that’s not really the industry I guess, that’s just people. 

And of course, the loss of the Album. That’s what I’m hoping comes back. The idea that you can put on an album and it plays great from start to finish. I always attempt that in my work. If that starts to come back then we’ll know the real music nerds and snobs are starting to become more prevalent, and if THAT happens, I think we’ll start to see more people at shows.

Vizions of Rock:  How does your song come together, where do you get your inspiration? 

JANGLING SPARROWS: I get my inspiration from the darker side of human nature. I’m on a current trend of trying to speak to downtrodden folks. It seems to be all I write about anymore. I also seem to always go back to broken relationships. The dynamics of that fascinates me, I have a lot of those. Even if it IS working, the undercurrents, the unspoken, the body language, those things are gold for content. I love touring and I write a lot about that, just meeting people. And then I just seem to make up stories and characters. I have an unreleased song about a guy who commits a heinous crime to afford being with this woman that’s out of his league. And the guy I was collaborating with at the time was convinced it was autobiographical. He wouldn’t believe that it wasn’t.

Vizions of Rock:  What is the creative process like when writing your songs? 

JANGLING SPARROWS: Indy-Americana, whatever we’re calling it, this is where rock and roll went when it stopped being pop. This is our forum to express ourselves however we want. We can be low, mean, depressed, ashamed, or unashamed, angry, revolutionary, anything, there are no, or should be no boundaries. That’s what rock and Roll does better than anything else at its best. This is our art. This is where I play. I usually let an idea gurgle in me for a while and when I’m ready to write it, the style, for me, becomes part of the expression. Though I tend to stick to a pretty limited palette, folk-rock, country, rock and roll, as I’m developing the content I’m deciding what musical expression, what blend of these things should it take on. What beat, tempo, major? Minor? Should the music compliment the words, or should it provide its own overarching content that brings the words into a different realm? things like that

Vizions of Rock:  Do have any advice for up and coming musicians who want to follow in your footstep, aside from “Stay in school” and “Don’t quit your day job”?

JANGLING SPARROWS: I wouldn’t say either of those things anyway, unless it’s music school or possibly business school. Honestly man, everyone has a take on this kind of thing but to me, there are a thousand ways to success. No two paths are alike. The only thing that successful people have in common, the only common denominator is that they didn’t quit. And you have to learn how to be brutally honest with yourself. That helps because it takes the sting away when others are critical of you and helps you assess whether or not they might be right and if that’s something you can or should change. The only thing I’ll add is that I do feel that too many Americana artists are content to fit into this box. I mean, there’s even a name, people have started calling it “genericana”. That may feel safe when you’re playing alone at a brewery full of strangers, but I don’t believe that’s the path artists should be taking. Originality, honesty and integrity of expression are the few things that this space has going for it.

Vizions of Rock:  Is there a message that you’re trying to communicate with STRANGER THINGS AND TRUER WORDS? 

JANGLING SPARROWS:  The title is meant to reflect on those expressions and what happens when they are here, in front of us. Like, when life just seems to pull the rug out from under your feet. In my case it was the prospect of looking at a happy life. Even though that’s what I was working toward it was hard to believe its actually happening as it happened. I quite literally didn’t know what to do with it. I went all David Byrne on that sh*t.  The album itself is more of a feeling than a concise message. It wants to break down or otherwise get inside some of our American myths. Through characters, stories as well as personal experience I’m hoping to demystify some of what we often perceive as unassailable. In so doing, I hope the listener comes away feeling somehow understood.

Vizions of Rock:  Who are your influences?

JANGLING SPARROWS: Jay Farrar, Neil Young, Zep, Guided By Voices, Elvis Costello, Probably Beatles, Townes Van Zandt.

Vizions of Rock:  What do you like best about being a musician and what is the worst part about being a musician? 

JANGLING SPARROWS: The worst part is the business side of things. That’s the hardest part for me. I have very little business acumen and have difficulty with it. I stink at promo, I’ve gotten better and I learn but the more I learn the more I discover that social media marketing is so outside my personality profile. I’m not crazy about having to babysit band members on the road when that happens. It doesn’t happen a lot, but it does happen. Not this line up fortunately.

Vizions of Rock:  What is on the horizon for the future? 

JANGLING SPARROWS: Planning on touring behind “Bootstraps” as much as possible. Setting up a bunch of duo tours too actually; I’m planning on recording some acoustic driven pieces I have and pimping them on the sly, at least until another album is finished. That might be done by year’s end as well. I’m trying to get a Patreon account active. I keep dragging a** but it should be by month’s end. Inside scoops, early releases, lyrics. things like that.

Vizions of Rock:  Is there anything that I did not ask you about, that you would want the world to know? 

JANGLING SPARROWS: well, I’m a scorpio, I love to cook, I play a lot of basketball. I stay in shape but I’m not, like, obsessed with it. My favorite color is Paynes Grey. I’m what we used to call in Philly “weird hot”. Like, you wouldn’t look at me and go “Wow he’s hot!” but if we were talking for a while you’d be like, “there’s something about him… from a certain angle... when the light hits in a certain way... if I’ve had a couple.” kind of thing.

Vizions of Rock:  Is there a tag line that describes JANGLING SPARROWS?

JANGLING SPARROWS: “Zydefolk” I started calling it that a while ago when we started playing around with some second line and zydeco feels in rehearsal. You can hear it’s influences a little on Bootstraps with Follow Me Down and Highway Jawn but more on the last record, 140 NIckels

Vizions of Rock:  How can we find you music?

JANGLING SPARROWS: www.janglingsparrows.com

Everything is there. I am looking into trying to drive traffic there to make it more of a hub. However I am also on all streaming platforms. My request to your readers would be, if they are listening on a streaming sight to put the band in playlists. That’s where the real algorithms are. Playlists.