News – Classic

No Depression

Hipsters, Hippies, and Dreamers

By Mike Yoder

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Joshua Ketchmark’s album Under Plastic Stars opens with the gentle strains of “We Were Everything” and, as the past tense of the title implies, it finds the singer/songwriter in a downcast mood. Ketchmark comes across as an essentially romantic songwriter here, adept with the time tested formulas of tunes about heartache, but it’s far from the only ace in his deck. “Every Mystery” continues in a similar vein as the opener, but it’s here where we get more of a sense about Ketchmark’s lyrical eye for detail and his ability to manifest the personal in a manner anyone can relate to. There’s no doubt that this is distinctly adult fare, but melody is another of Ketchmark’s redeeming graces and his fecund qualities in this area make Under Plastic Stars an even more enjoyable listening experience.

“Let It Rain” is one of the album’s standout songs both musically and lyrically. The nuance put into this track, including even a bit of steel guitar, sets it several notches above much more paint by numbers and commercialized efforts in this vein and Ketchmark does an admirable job of taking a well used turn of phrase and building something around it that’s uniquely his own. There’s some delicate and beautiful keyboard playing, courtesy of Ketchmark, adorning the song “Lucky at Leavin’” and the near crystalline vocal Ketchmark delivers is worth the price of the album alone. It’s the mark of a great singer how he takes familiar sentiments and invests them with something of the new.

“Hereafter” has some appropriately ethereal electric guitar lines, laden with just enough echo to achieve the desired atmospherics, and the steady pulse of the song gives it a solid rhythmic structure. The musical picture darkens a little with the song “Get Out Alive” and it stands, at album’s end, as one of the strongest character studies on the release. The guitar work is particularly good and accompanies Ketchmark sympathetically. The album hits a commercial high point of sorts with the track “Saturday Night”, but Ketchmark’s efforts in this style are much more polished and more substantive than releases from his crasser counterparts. “Sweet Surrender” is even better as Ketchmark incorporates piano with the song’s musical attack and the rhythm section of drummer Kenny Wright and bassist Dave Webb impart monumental emotional heft to the piece.

Another great moment comes with the aching character study “17” and it’s, once again, a minor marvel to behold how deftly Ketchmark avoids all too familiar tropes and clichés associated with his subject matter. These are flesh and blood tunes in every respect and, even at his most obvious, Ketchmark reaches far beyond a cookie cutter mold for the material and claim the subject matter as his own. The final song “The Great Unknown” brings Under Plastic Stars to a surprisingly zesty end and Ketchmark delivers a singing performance brimming with urgency and inspiration. This is a singer/songwriter album, through and through, that nonetheless manages to hack its way through thickets of tradition to find a path all its own.

Groping Towards Grace

By Pamela Bellmore

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There are likely to be two dominant schools of thought regarding Joshua Ketchmark’s Under Plastic Stars. The first will find Ketchmark’s twelve song collection to be a remarkably unified work, both lyrically and musically, with nary a hole to be seen in the track listing. Another point of view will likely peg Under Plastic Stars as a remarkably promising work slightly marred by too many similarities between songs and potentially benefitted by being pruned by a couple of tracks or else varied with one or two uniformly uptempo numbers. I side with the former. Ketchmark obviously wanted this to be an intimate affair and the predominantly mid-tempo cast of the material reinforces listeners’ concentration on the material. You can’t say this about a lot of releases, but the lyrics for Under Plastic Stars are important – even when they aren’t reaching high for some storytelling peak, they are obviously cut from a distinctly personal cloth and listeners will get a real sense of who Joshua Ketchmark is by album’s conclusion.

I particularly like the audaciousness of opening with the musically placid but vocally and lyrically heartbroken “We Were Everything”. Ketchmark throws us, from the first, into the emotional breach and his melodic talents as a songwriter make it a distinctly, if improbable, memorable listening experience. The acoustic guitar work is superb throughout the entire album, but this is one of many high points for playing on Under Plastic Stars. “Every Mystery”, the album’s second tune, is another track that does a superb job of mixing the singer/songwriter mold of the material with an appealing commercial edge that never overreaches. Some hints of Ketchmark’s more poetic side emerge here, but it’s a romantic song, in essence, and Ketchmark delivers it with the emotion such tracks demand.

“Let It Rain” and “Lucky at Leavin’”, in tandem, make for one of the album’s greatest peaks. The first is one of the more atmospheric performances on Under Plastic Stars, but it never sounds unnecessarily stagy or straining to impress listeners. I’m taken by how Ketchmark can use common turns of phrase like “let it rain”, a common song title throughout popular music history, and make something of his own from the familiar. “Lucky at Leavin’” is a beautifully lyrical folk tune, in essence, adorned with some discreet electric guitar and keyboard touches that flesh it out into something truly memorable. “Get Out Alive” has a fatalistic air not common to the other eleven songs and a dollop of blues coming through its arrangement while the late tune “Sweet Surrender” brings piano into the mix with powerful emotional impact. Under Plastic Stars reveals Ketchmark to be a truly talented figure and explains, in one fell swoop, why he’s been such a sought out collaborator and sideman for so many important performers and bands over the years.

Music of the World

By Jay Snyder

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From the opening, gentle strum the heart-warming, tumbleweed kicking love song, “We Were Everything” and culminating in the rhythmically pulsating, winding electric guitar leads and spitfire soul vocals of closer “The Great Unknown,” it’s clear that Joshua Ketchmark has arrived. Hailing from his humble beginnings in Peoria, Illinois and eventually carving a path to every big-time music city in the USA (LA just to name one of many places), Ketchmark is now twelve releases strong in a music career that spans too many genres to count. Though he primarily operates in old school folk, country, pop and r & b, he also branches out into rock, blues and delicate balladry whenever the mood strikes him.

After the fiery lead-in of “We Were Everything,” Joshua switches into ballad mode with quiet acoustic guitar, deeply mixed and layered keyboards/organ, minimalist percussion and meditative bass lines that release a cathartic yet minor increase in volume during the song’s chorus. All throughout his vocals a powerful and effortless in their melodic capabilities; a goldmine that he willingly pans to great riches on successive soft numbers like the ol’ tyme harmony duet remedy of “Lucky at Leavin’” and the dreamy surrealism of “Harm’s Way.” It’s but one small side of the many faces of his finest record to date, Under Plastic Stars.

Despite his tender side, Ketchmark showcases some gruff hurdy gurdy on the tumbling, slow-motion blues of “Let It Rain” where a baroque, buzzing keyboard melody and thumping, low-slung bass presence lend a ton of musical weight alongside the singer’s hearty vocals. His guitar is pulled back into more of support role on this number and it greatly benefits from the change-up in songwriting tactics. “Get Out Alive” also scorches in its second-half; applying a soothing, folk-country salve led by a playful backbeat in the early going before diving into some electric lead guitar and head-nodding action later down the line. The piano-laced “Sweet Surrender” and the tranquil folk-pop of “Hereafter” showcase the more modern tinges of Ketchmark’s writing with this particular pair of compositions reckoning a bit of recent trailblazers like James Blunt and Daughtry, whereas the fuzzy guitar twang and country licks of “Saturday Night” and “Losing Control” build-up into a catchy gallop thanks to great supportive work by the rhythm section and another commanding lead vocal extravaganza from Joshua. The sultry “17” may just be the album’s best kept secret with excellent female vocal accompaniment only highlighting the wonderful melodies that Ketchmark brings forth from his subconscious.

Under Plastic Stars is a triumph of glory and soul. It’s a record that comes as much from the head as it does from the heart. There is brain to the songwriting, arranging and playing, but you can tell that Ketchmark and his collaborators are operating off of sheer passion just as much as they are the statistical, pitch-perfect production end of the spectrum. All of these factors combine into an invigorating and enticing listen that’s sure to warrant multiple listens in different moods and settings to get the most out of the record; well-done and highly recommended for certain.

Signatures In Time

By Drew East

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Being a reviewer is really a dream job. You get to discover new music that you’ve missed and sometimes music from established artists that you couldn’t catch either. There’s so much stuff out there with the ease of home-recording taking over the market that you’re bound to forget to check out something. Reviewers on the other hand have it easy and being one has led me to the music of Joshua Ketchmark and his 12th release Under Plastic Stars.

The gravel path opener “We Were Everything” sets the bar at a high quality level from the very beginning. Acoustic guitars mingle with Ketchmark’s sturdy voice as the song slowly picks up speed; allowing room for a few deep bass grooves and tapping, perhaps brush-played drums that keep the music always moving forward. “Every Mystery” reduces the atmospheric quality to a warm simmer nearly solely fronted by Ketchmark’s gleaming acoustic guitar work, trippy organ playing, countrified rhythms and full-throat vocals that really hit the melody mark. Taking things down a dirtier, danker alleyway “Let It Rain” goes for a downtempo, rhythm n’ blues feel with more focus provided on the bass guitar and piano than just simple guitar-centered shucking and jiving. The album’s first run ends with a mesmerizing ballad, “Lucky at Leavin’” that sees Joshua and a female vocalist giving a touching update on the Jones/Wynette classic harmony vocals.

Picking up the pace, “Hereafter” brings back the rhythm section alongside some twangy acoustic guitars and some summer-baked slide licks for a Mason Dixon sweetened ballad that acts as the perfect foil to the buzzing, rock n’ roll-y “Get Out Alive.” “Get out Alive” features some of the album’s only plugged in guitars and it’s a jam that would sure to bring a smoky club audience to their feet and cheering for the act so gracious enough to deliver it. “Saturday Night” stays uptempo but retains a thoughtful smolder in its hickory steamed guitar melodies, plaintive rhythms and heartfelt vocals that really dig under the skin and stick with you long after the album stops playing. “Harm’s Way” is another slice of delicious Carolina pie cut from folk/country cloth and mainly featuring Josh and his guitar howling away into the night. The glory bound “Sweet Surrender” utilizes piano to get its main point across while the rhythm section jostles Ketchmark’s vibrant guitar into some steady groove, although things never really take off on a rock n’ roll path again over the course of the record. “17” implants another stunning male/female duet into a livelier more rocking piece than the prior contemplation of “Lucky at Leavin’” while the closing duo of “Losing Control” and “The Great Unknown” end the album on a folk-country dirt road.

Everything about Under Plastic Stars is a musical home run; a true taste of musical Americana that’s as friendly and familiar is a Fourth of July cookout. This release is a modern classic of singer/songwriter chops with plenty of intricacies and variety woven into the aural fabric of Ketchmark’s chosen sound. If you like your music mostly acoustic based but unafraid of experimentation and great vocalizing, then this release is most certainly worth your time!

Unchained Music

By Frank McClure

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It all started with the debut of MTV for singer/songwriter Joshua Ketchmark. Being turned onto the channel during its birth, the volley of new music videos emerging for the first time sent Ketchmark in a search for his mother’s old acoustic guitar. Soon he was writing riffs, then he was writing songs and finally he started jamming with his friends at rehearsals at his own house and around the neighborhood. That boyhood dream is now 12 albums strong with a firm foothold in the music world that has introduced him personally to Melissa Etheridge, 90s rockers fuel, megastar producer Michael Beinhorn and even the members of KISS! You can’t write a much better rags to rocking story than Ketchmark’s and his is even better because the whole thing is based in reality.

Under Plastic Stars is the culmination of a decade plus long music career that just keeps getting better and better. Across the dozen tunes heard on this recording, there are many different moods, textures and instrumental variances to be found. The traditional rock band format is used on certain tracks, while others play out as vintage singer/songwriter affairs fronted by nothing more than vocals and an acoustic yet other songs bring in harmony vocalists, organs and keyboards to complement Ketchmark’s shifting compositional style. These are all original cuts and Joshua has really proven himself at this juncture to be a more than capable songwriter.

Pieces such as the lucid opener “We Were Everything” and its combination of acoustic folk and light rhythmic groove, the gorgeous Nashville style vocal duets and American gothic organ of “Lucky at Leavin’,” and “17” along with the Dylan-esque “Harm’s Way” all operate mostly on slinking moods, soft instrumentation and huge melodic vocal hooks that paint vivid, storytelling pictures of love, loss and life from Joshua’s introspective point of view. Sometimes it’s the beauty of the soft back-up vocals and the way Ketchmark harmonizes or the glistening gleam of an old rustic organ playing a haunting passage that gives each of these compositions their robust flavor. There’s an organic development and unfolding to each track with just the right amount of tricks added to the musical foundations to make their memory last a lifetime.

There are no weak links to be discussed when viewing this album as a whole and it’s as a whole that it is best experience with the songs forming an arc that only gets stronger with repeated listening. The riff-y and rockin’ “Get Out Alive” even electrifies the guitars for another change of pace while its sister track “Saturday Night” manages to retain the rock attitude while digging into the meat of the track with solely acoustic instrumentation.

You never know what each new track will bring on Under Plastic Stars and that’s part of the allure. In a sea of cookie-cutter artists Joshua Ketchmark stands as a true original making his mark on the musical landscape at large. With superb songwriting and fantastic instrumental work, there is no reason that Ketchmark shouldn’t be a household name in just a few more years of time.

Pop Music Paradise

By Wendy Owens

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Peoria native Joshua Ketchmark has truly led a storied life in the music industry with his adventure taking him from small town Illinois to Seattle to LA and beyond. He’s worked with the rock band Fuel, Jonny Lang and Melissa Etheridge. He’s learned much about audio and production while sitting in with legendary producers Rob Cavallo (Green Day), Michael Beinhorn (Soundgarden, Red Hot Chili Peppers and many more); he’s worked KISS’s rehearsals and even had to deliver keyboard gear to a Four Seasons’ gig in the past. This is truly the definition of working your way up and advancing in the business.

Much of the same can be said when describe his own musical journey which now spans a total of 12 releases thanks to his latest, Under Plastic Stars. As a singer/songwriter he’s rooted in folk, soul, country, acoustic solo performer stuff and a little touch of rock n’ roll. He’s brings emotion, charge and dynamics to even the simplest numbers and his ability to arrange gorgeous compositions that still got a little grit is second to none. The soulful, one-two opening punch of “We Were Everything” and “Every Mystery” blends striking, fluid vocal melodies, dazzling acoustic guitars, moody production, rhythmic accompaniment when necessary and even a pinch of organ/synthesizer work in the latter of the two tracks. These two tunes literally set the stage for everything to come on the rest of the recording.

“Let It Rain” dials down the mood to a weighty, bass-y stomp driven by the low-end and piano while Ketchmark’s gristly melody vocals and intricate acoustic/slide/electric guitar motifs swerve in and out of different enchanting and engaging melodies… Soft and on the somber side the acoustic-centered guy/girl vocal duet of “Lucky at Leavin’” and the immediately following, slow-motion country-kicker “Hereafter” keep the vibes cool and collected with strong harmonic interplay between the vocalists on the former. “Get Out Alive” and “Saturday Night” ratchet up the fun with more rock n’ roll-y tempos, distantly howling organs (on “Get Out Alive”), more vibrant and moving guitar licks and vocals that range from powerhouse leads to the glorious duet harmonization heard during “Saturday Night’s” finale. Another standout shines in the moon-drenched, dark roots-y ambience of “17’s” night side guitar work and candelabra glow soul vocals. It’s another one of Ketchmark’s tunes that just reaches deep inside your chest and holds your heart tight. The word “emotional” doesn’t even begin to cover the emotive depths plunged by this sundering number. The album ends on a high-energy note with closer “The Great Unknown” bringing both rock n’ roll pacing and thunder to a blues-cooked jam heavy on the southern-fried soul.

Joshua Ketchmark has dropped the best album of his career with this beauty. The 12 tracks cover a large stretch of ground with numerous genres applied to the musical landscape. Anyone into roots and rural music with a twist should absolutely pick up a copy of Under Plastic Stars.

Music You Can Use

By Alonzo Evans

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Illinois-bred singer/songwriter Joshua Ketchmark has built a slow and steady career on excellent musical craftsmanship and stellar guitar playing that’s spanned a dozen releases to date. He’s brushed shoulders with Melissa Etheridge and has worked with the production teams that have brought to life recordings by Elvis Costello, Don Henley and Ryan Adams. In a tough modern musical climate where it’s very difficult to get your own original compositions out there for the public to hear, Ketchmark has accomplished way more than most. It’s his talent that his gotten the singer/guitarist to where he is and it’s his talent that can be heard all across his latest release, Under Plastic Stars.

The album opens with a gentle, trotting acoustic number that’s draped in dusty folk influences and tinged of rural, back porch country jamming. With his heartfelt lyrics detailing a passionate relationship and instrumentation that puts a production focal point on Joshua’s breathy voice and muscular acoustic guitars while the rhythm section dives into a little groove that pushes the material forward with grace and goodness. Subtle church organ atmosphere is introduced on the twinkling, starlit magic of “Every Mystery.” Gorgeous acoustic guitars draped in reverb and slight echo provide a launch pad for Ketchmark’s earthy, infectious vocal delivery that paints a forlorn picture of being pushed away by the one that you’re in love with. This cut leads directly into the harder, bluesy 6-strings, dark keyboard shades and rumbling bass lines of the crunching “Let It Rain.” An electric guitar buzz sometimes cuts through the thick, dense instrumentals and the vocals slip more into a heartbroken roar that still shows a surprising amount of melody and restraint. Even slide guitar makes an accompaniment appearance to round out the sound on this excellent number.

Breezy and autumnal in its aura, “Lucky at Leavin’” pairs an energetic acoustic line to smooth flowing melodies with a recording quality that leaves the impression of Josh playing alone onstage at a large concert hall. Sweet back-up vocal harmonies from an unknown female guest provide further emotive expression to the song while lap-steel and layered keys add to a great deal of texture to the music’s many charms. “Hereafter” returns to semi-rugged country/blues backed by a rousing drumbeat, lamenting and powerful vocals overflowing with stunning vibrato and several climactic breaks where the volume swells and the instrumental tones rise to the sky. Hymnal organ playing and a fireball electric guitar solo renders “Get out Alive” an edge that only further mixes up the varied moods and sounds on the record. Elsewhere the entirely acoustic “Harm’s Way” sucks the ears in from the very first note, the vocal/piano led soul tune “Sweet Surrender” really provides a showcase for Ketchmark’s gripping singing and awesome multi-instrumentalism and closer “The Great Unknown” mingles rock volume and tempos with country music’s ol’ fashioned vocal harmony standards and simplistic but hook-y guitar/rhythm shakedowns.

Joshua Ketchmark pulls out all of the stops on Under Plastic Stars. With excellent musical chops, stellar songwriting skills and great arrangements that blend a multitude of different instruments together, there’s not a misstep to be found on this album. It’s certainly won over this first time listener to Ketchmark’s wonderful audio world.

The Modern Beat

By Daniel Boyer

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“We Were Everything” begins Joshua Ketchmark’s Under Plastic Stars on a decidedly elegiac note, but this isn’t a dreary collection of songs. Ketchmark’s first full fledged solo effort, self-produced and written by Ketchmark, finds this longtime musical cohort of some of the music world’s biggest acts stepping out on his own with considerable talent and finesse. The primarily acoustic slant to this album is adorned with other touches like keyboards and even some occasional swaths of steel guitar, but you can’t comfortably consign it to a particular genre. “We Were Everything” has strong melodic virtues that continues with the second song “Every Mystery”, but the arrangement is a little more inventive and less straightforward than we hear from the first song. It doesn’t veer too far, however, from the tendencies established with “We Were Everything”.

The steel guitar present in “Let It Rain” is so thoroughly integrated with the rest of the arrangement that it never calls ostentatious attention to itself and, instead, proves to be just another color in Ketchmark’s toolbox. It’s easy to single this tune out as one of the undisputed high points on Under Plastic Stars and the emphatic nature of Ketchmark’s singing signals he views the song in a similar manner. “Lucky at Leavin’” sounds like it might be some classic country cut, based on title alone, but it’s actually a lush and carefully wrought acoustic number, folk for the most part, that benefits from a swell of keyboard color strengthening its sound. Ketchmark’s singing hits another high water mark with this tune that will, undoubtedly, linger in listener’s memories long after the song ends. “Hereafter” is particularly effective thanks to Brad Rice’s sinewy electric guitar lines crackling throughout the performance and another impassioned vocal never risking overwrought theatrics.

“Get Out Alive” has a little more of a rough hewn gait than the earlier tunes and owes its roots to the blues much more than anything else so far. It’s an evocative piece lyrically and Ketchmark brings just enough gravel into his voice to make this character dissection all the more convincing. He hits another high point with the commercial potential of “Saturday Night”, but Ketchmark isn’t a performer pursuing the path of least resistance. Instead, he throws himself into this tune for all he’s worth and it reaches heights the earlier songs never explore. “In Harm’s Way” is a largely solo acoustic tune incorporating more sounds in the second half and has a pleasing melodic core that will draw many listeners into its web.

“Sweet Surrender” takes some of the same template we hear with the song “Saturday Night” but, instead of relying on guitars, brings piano in to great effect and Ketchmark’s voice responds in kind with a showstopper of a vocal. The near orchestral sweep of this song stands out from the rest and makes it one of Under Plastic Stars’ more memorable moments. The last track “The Great Unknown” adopts a busier tempo than we’ve heard with much of the album and, thus, brings the release to an energetic close. Joshua Ketchmark’s Under Plastic Stars is an obviously personal work, but the entry points for listeners are numerous and inviting.

Burned Out Borders

By Laura Dodero

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A longtime collaborator and sideman for many important and legendary musicians, Joshua Ketchmark has made his way in the modern music world based on work ethic and talent. It’s little wonder that his first effort at a solo album, Under Plastic Stars, turns out to be such a satisfying effort – these songs are long gestating gems further energized by his obvious commitment to the material. Ketchmark’s work definitely falls in the singer/songwriter category, but he’s much more storyteller than confessional would-be poet. Make no mistake, however – the twelve songs on Under Plastic Stars are noteworthy for their intelligence and often jaw-dropping eye for detail. There are a couple of moments when Ketchmark is definitely appealing to a potential mass audience and Under Plastic Stars needs at least one more uptempo songs at the expense of one of the slower numbers, but this is an album nonetheless full of riches.

“We Were Everything” starts the album off on a bold foot. Rather than going for the gusto and ushering us into his musical world with some sort of brisk, rollicking number. Instead, Ketchmark begins things in an introspective mood and the song throbs with emotion while never seeming too overwrought. The muted percussion and memorable melodies powering “Every Mystery” perfectly frames one of Ketchmark’s songs of yearning and he invokes the required emotions, once again, without ever straining for effect. “Let It Rain”, the album’s third song, is another number when there’s an obvious concern with establishing a musical mood and Ketchmark succeeds spectacularly without ever hamming things up too much. The clear discernment driving his performances is one of the key elements setting him apart from the pack and it comes through in every song.

“Hereafter” is one of the album’s more musically forceful numbers, but doesn’t deviate from the same patient tempos defining the earlier songs. The electric guitar is the difference maker here and Brad Rice’s guitar has an almost painterly touch with its ability to add color to the song. “Sweet Surrender” is, far and away, the album’s best ballad or the closest thing to it and should exert widespread appeal with both devotees and casual music fans alike. The piano is the straw that stirs the melodic drink here and Ketchmark plays off it quite beautifully, but bass player Dave Webb and drummer Kenny Wright make their mark as well. “!7” is another fine peak on the album and its finest character portrayal – Ketchmark shows deft touches throughout that other songwriters simply wouldn’t include and it makes for a more engrossing storytelling experience. “Losing Control” mixes the tempos up a little and it comes nicely as the band gets to unleash at something more than a slow match and they breeze through those respective parts of the song with the same loose limbed precision we hear elsewhere. “The Great Unknown”, as well, shows a more energetic pace and Ketchmark offers up one of his best vocals on the album to close it out. Under Plastic Stars isn’t a flawless effort, by many means, but Ketchmark’s first solo foray is rewarding in every way.