Singer/Songwriter Billy Jeter looks backward and outwards with his newest album “Shine Eye Landing”. An album as obtuse and memorable and its name, Jeter uses his witty lyrics and his gruff vocals to weave a collection of tales. Coming from an upbringing of painters, writers, and folk musicians, Jeter is a third-generation Arkansan, and you can tell the pride he has for his forebearers is incredibly strong.
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Nostalgia is a woven theme through the album as Jeter reflects on age and innocence, childhood and the transformation into adulthood, all while leaving plenty up for interpretation. I know I make it sound like it’s this dense art-house record that only the “sophisticated” may enjoy, but it’s more like an album from a forgotten time, or maybe a time that never existed but an ideal that we want to preserve. In the first half of the album, Jeter looks to his youthhood casting visions of love over streams and woodland areas. He breaks down the dynamics of his family life and what has made him himself, especially in the memorable “That’s Just the Way We Roll”. Some of the lyrics are a little on the hokey side, but it’s honest and humble. For a lot of country music, there’s always this underpinning of “our way of life is better than yours”, and none of that condescension is on this record. Jeter at this point has the ability to craft stories down to a science, even if his lyrics will border on the more, let’s say ambiguous side. He’s a fan of blues, folk singers, and country and he incorporates them very well into an album that’s not beholden to any one’s point of reverence.
The album, even when it’s at its more upbeat songs has a methodical pace that allows the listener to soak in all the nuances of Jeter’s noises. Your mileage may vary on whether or not this is gonna be something for you, but O still recommend it all the same for something who’s not just looking for something good, but something different. You feel the weight of the pathos that Jeter sings about, that even as someone who grew up in the cities of New York, you yourself feel often transplanted into Jeter’s body, which for any musician to do is an incredible feat. By the time the album closes with “The Apostle”, which captures that boyhood aspect while looking to the unknown with lines about the train that will take us to the sky, it’s not certain if he’s looking at things from a mortality perspective, or something more exciting about the unknown.
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That’s a good way to look at Jeter’s future as well musically. I don’t know if this might be a swan song of sorts as there’s a feeling of completeness on it, or if this is simply another step on his journey. I hope it’s the latter versus the former because despite the excellent polish, it really feels like Jeter is only getting started,
Rachel Townsend