A REVIEW OF MASON JENNINGS' "BIRDS FLYING AWAY"
by Steve Smith - 9.23.03

Do you need a troubadour from Minnesota in your life who is not currently sporting a pencil-thin moustache? If so, read on. Mason Jennings is the son Bob Dylan wishes he had. This past year two of his sons collaborated on the movie “American Wedding.” American fucking Wedding! Two of Bob Dylan’s fucking sons! Jesse directed the film with Jakob contributing a cover of a Van Morrison song for the soundtrack. Can you say embarrassing?

So here is Jennings, as said, from Minnesota with an untrained deep yell of a voice espousing political ideology as well as bellowing songs of heartache and love. Will the elder Dylan request a paternity test with fingers crossed? Time will tell.

On “Birds Flying Away” Jennings holds firm to nothing. He is a pastoral poet on The Mountain. “I’m coming down the mountain and this whole dark valley is mine.” He sings antiquated yet relevant political songs such as Black Panther and Dr. King. And, in the tradition of dramatic monologist Robert Browning, he takes on the persona of an engaged young girl in the song Duluth.

So yeah, beauty is truth is “Birds Flying Away” and that is all ye need to know!