The term Texas Troubadour has almost become a cliché. Texas is a state that is known for its songwriters and for a music scene that invites independence and a free spirited approach to music. Mark Jones and his band Twenty Paces walk easily in those heavy footsteps. Their album, Breaking Even, is a contemplative album that follows a path laid out somewhere between Don Williams and Townes Van Zandt. In that fertile soil, Mark Jones and Twenty Paces have tilled a perfect landscape.
From the opening strains of weeping steel in ”Austin,” it becomes clear that Breaking Even is more than just another Texas songwriter album. Jones celebrates leaving the legendary Texas town with the same glee Guy Clark brought to “LA Freeway.” Much of Breaking Even feels like it could be drawn from the early to mid nineties on country radio. It doesn't sound dated, exactly, so much that it has a light embrace of country traditions combined with well crafted lyrics that draw average lives. “its too bad things turned out the way they did,” Jones croons on the title track. “I’m all alone ’till I pick up the pieces of my heart off the floor,” he muses on “Falling from Grace.” “Beat up and broke down like the wheels that brought me here,” he moans on “Home Tonight.” Its those simple, almost conversational lines, that strike the deepest chords. Many of the songs deal with finding and losing love, as songs so very often do. However, there are some delightful exceptions. ”Fast and Free” frolics its way through generations of small town childhoods. However, love and loss do make for the best of songs. “This Time” finds Jones wrapping a haunting and sweet falsetto around the most heartbreaking moments when a relationship shatters into tiny pieces. Jones mixes the poetic and the prosaic to create the kind of songs that used to be commonplace in country music, but have always been priced above rubies.
It is difficult to put a finger on exactly what makes Breaking Even the perfect album it is. There are even moments that seem to have been influences by Lonestar, and that is never something a critic can imagine considering a compliment. However, Breaking Even manages to take the sum of all of its parts and create an even better album around them. There are many sayings about the need have both roots and wings. Breaking Even is perhaps the most perfect fusion of inspiration and influence that has ever been pressed to vinyl.
Related: Mark Jones & Twenty Paces - Independent Lens
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