A Full length and Very Personal Record from John Gossart

An album release from John Gossart delivers a series of songs that come through with a very particular breed of honesty as lots of these tracks have descriptive lyrics letting you paint vivid pictures in your head as songs unfold, they hit with heart and, at times, cinematic undertone because of the level of emotional backbone some of the tracks.

As the record plays through, you get plenty of glimpses into John's personality as a lot of inner thought comes spilling out for everyone to soak up and plenty of the songs tell such great stories that are relatable and again, emotionally built so that you end up connecting with them and at times, even letting some of your own memories pop into your head.

The record is called Thief On The Left, and is delivered with a very warm set of tonalities in the form of folk, singer-songwriter, Americana, and elements of country shining through, all wrapped up into this one robust record that has a very beautiful sort of flow and freeing undertone because of how much detailed honesty comes through.

Songs like "Long Division" are a perfect example of how you can get detailed and emotional simultaneously while he tells you a story that comes from a very personal perspective, and because of the way he articulates the lyrics, you end up relating to it very much.

This is an album that feels kind of vulnerable, but in a good way. It feels almost like it was probably very cathartic for John to actually write and release because there was so much to get off his chest.

Throughout the album, you have some beautiful percussion, rolling snares, and a lot of that southern tonality comes through because of the percussion and the guitar work.

Different kinds of guitar tones throughout the album, but a lot of acoustic guitar takes place, which really helps that warm tonality I just mentioned. It also lets the record feel sort of inviting.

It all has a very elegant sort of aesthetic to it, making you want more and more as the album plays through. By the time you get to the 3rd or 4th song, you are already in it. These are stories that are unfolding, and you want to hear the rest of them.

I can honestly tell you that this is an album that you should be listening to from beginning to end, simply because listening to one or two tracks may give you a bit of an idea as to what you may expect from the record, but it will not give you anywhere near the full spectrum of what the album actually has to offer.

There are more than a few surprises around the corners, some incredible performances, and a lot of these songs have a weird way of putting you in the moment with them.

This, to me, all helps with that emotional backing and that cinematic tone at times.

Now, you also have some great rockers in there as well. Songs that have high energy, slamming drums, layers of lush instrumentation, and that hit with a little bit more of a harder rock backbone, even though it still comes through as classic or even folk rock at the same time.

So, even on the harder-hitting tracks like "Warsaw", he never loses some of the great staples that the rest of the record has.

You can tell there was a lot of attention to detail in the tones of the instruments, how the songs were arranged, and this dynamic balance that the whole record boasts.

One of my favorite tracks on the record is called "Twisted Sick Transgressions", which is a song that comes in with a beautiful and Soulful guitar part and showcases some of this more classic rock and blues side of the performances and songwriting as well.

So, there are really no two songs that are very alike throughout this record, although there is a confluent feel, sentiment, and element of storytelling that lets the songs interconnect with each other.

This is yet another reason to listen to the record in full.

This is an album that doesn't hold back. Lyrically, it's incredibly upfront and talks about everything from addiction to glimpses of suicidal tendency, and a lot more on top of that. It's one of the more personal records that I've heard in a very long time, and I found it brave and really very well woven so that even though it touches on all these personal topics so well and so intensely at times, it's never over the top.

The Thief On The Left album is set to release on October 26th, but you can grab pre-saves right here and on the artist's website.

Now, after listening to this album in full, we absolutely had to sit down with John to have a little chat about where it actually came from and what might be coming up next for the artist.

So, take a read through of our interview with John Gossart below and then jump to his website to check some of these tracks out.

You certainly will not be disappointed.

RAG: Let's talk about Thief On The Left! This record blended Americana and Country, folk, pop rock, and more all in one big release! it was descriptive and felt super authentic! Where did this record come from?

No one place. Work on writing the songs for over three years.  18 songs, 7 didn’t make the cut for the record. So I’ve always tried to approach songwriting as storytelling.  So if you start with that premise and go back and look at my lyrics, I think you’ll find a story.  It might not be the story I had in mind, but i think that’s a good thing.  If a song resonates with someone because they think it’s about them, I don’t ant to dispel that.  I love when people share their own interpretation.  

RAG: I'm hearing a few different approaches to this record! Who are some of your biggest musical influences?

wow, that’s a really hard question to answer, too many people influenced this record because there’s a wide diversity, almost different genres for different songs on the album.  But if you press me I’d say really big influences on me and the record are Billy Bragg, Andy Hull (of Manchester Orchestra, Gregory Alan Isakov, Velvet underground, Sam Beam of Iron and Wine, Beck, the Shins, Postal Service, Death Cab. Mad Larry (Billy Ryan’s alter ego).  I could literally go on for days.

RAG: This album was produced and mastered by Billy Ryan or Ryan Brothers Music correct? How did you meet and get that going? 

Yeah, Billy Ryan produced the record, he’s a genius and I am lucky to have him make this record. He had a vision that I would never have come up with on my own.  I met him in Boston and we played together a bit back then.  And 25 years later I call him up for some advice, send him some demos and he agreed to produce.  He took my very stripped acoustic songs and and made them into something very big, very full. His brother Brendan, the other half of Ryan Brothers Music plays on the record too with some epic piano, organ, and horns that made he songs so much fuller than my acoustic demos.  And Billy Campion brilliantly engineered the record (all three of them are in an amazing band called The Bogmen, who were signed by Arista back in the day).  Ryan Bros Music does a ton of work beyond producing, they’ve contributed to too many movie soundtracks and television shows to mention, from the Farrelly brothers to Keanu Reeves, from Loudermilk to Animaniacs. I feel very lucky they agreed to work with me.

RAG: This is a big record and pretty personal at times. Did you find it hard to write these songs?

Um, yeah I guess I did.  Some singer songwriters just pump out great songs at a fast pace, but it takes me awhile.  I usually start with a chord progression I come up, and a lot of times I hear a melody or a lead guitar part or a piano part.  Lyrics to me are all about cadence, so often I have what i think is a great line, or great several lines and then I have to save them until I write the chord progression that the lyrics fit into.   

RAG: How did this all start for you as an artist?

Started in high school playing bass in bands, and then I did the same thing in college, playing local bars, parties, etc.  But when I went in the Army (they paid my way through a scholarship that required me to get commissioned as an officer and serve a set amount of time.  Not a lot of time for music during that period, but eight or nine years later I had to spend a year alone at a military professional course outside Kansas City.  The bass is a lonely instrument, so I got a guitar and taught my self with books, videos, etc.  The 9-11 happened and I put down the guitar for a long time as I was deployed many times.  I came back to DC and picked it up again.  Joined a band called Stone Driver and we played a lot of amazing venues.  We were a blues rock band so I was writing in that style, but my singer songwriter songs didn’t fit.  So i set out to make an album. 

RAG: Are you performing live right now? 

Yep.  Whenever i can.  A lot of cover shows though and when the record comes out I really want to get out there and play these original songs off the album, even though the audience will probably be small and there will be no people singing a long unless I bribe my friends and family to learn the lyrics and come to my shows.

RAG: Now that this is out, what's next for you?

Playing out.  Would love to tour on this record to promote it. We’ll see. 

RAG: Who's in your headphones right now?

As I said, my algorithm is all over the place.  I actually still listen to my old pandora stations a lot because they have been curating for over 10 years and I don’t want to lose them.  So let me look at the last 5 songs that played on my phone today…Shins “Gone for Good", Modest Mouse “Good Times are Killing Me", Gregory Alan Isakov “Big Black Car”, Velvet Underground , Billy Bragg “Between the Wars”, David Bowie “Queen Bitch”.  I see no newer music in that list, but there are new bands in my Spotify algo too, like Mr. Dinkles and Nep to name a couple, they are doing some really cool things in songwriting right now.

RAG: What would you tell people they can expect on this release?

I guess just tell them that I just put myself out there and so now I am kind of exposed.  Some people will hate it, yeah?  Not looking forward to that in the comments, but I hope more people like it and ideally it will even really resonate with some people.  Unfortunately there’s a big common denominator out there in despair and anger and regret, so there’s a lot of competition in that space.  But i think if people listen and give me a chance, this record will definitely scratch that itch.

RAG: Before we go, what would you like to express to fans of the music? 

Stream it, download it, buy it, come see a show.  Pre saves will be available October 6th, album will be live on all streaming platforms and socials October 26th.    And thanks for the support everyone has given me so far, including you guys at RAG.  You’re doing great work. Thanks for taking the time to listen and review the record.  Unless you don’t like it, then I take all that back.  But seriously, thank you guys.

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