138. Single Review of Break Bread by Jed Harrelson
Originally Published on June 2nd, 2025
About the Artist
“Trying to create something that feels good all around.” - Jed Harrelson, via his Spotify Bio.
Most of the time, when I review a new artist, I have recently heard about their music via a submission. Sometimes, I happen across their music through social media.
That is what happened a few months ago, while scrolling on TikTok. I came across a video where a guy, wearing a camo tee shirt was dancing in a field, holding an instrument and singing into a mic that were not plugged into an amp (this was done on purpose, intentionally noticeable), and he was singing and dancing to a song that did not match his image or voice.
As I continued to listen, the song got more and more impressive. Before I knew it, I was running over to Spotify to listen to Bad Habits.
Harrelson, currently calling Nashville home, is a blues rock musician who has a soulful connection to the rhythmic and lyrical style of his music that brings a meaningful connection of blues music from the 50’s through the 70’s to 2025. To see him in front of a microphone before the song starts, there is no way to expect the sound that the audience is about to hear, much like The Teskey Brothers or Blues Traveler.
Harrelson debuted in July of 2020 with a dual single release of the songs Potential/Problems. Potential is stripped back, featuring Harrelson on vocals and acoustic guitar; with the occasional accompanying lead riff on electric providing support. Problems is a full band performance, and it is the first moment to really showcase his vocal performance.
2021 Harrelson would release three singles; including the blues/jazz groove, Nothing I Can Do and a live version of Potential. Then, in 2022, he would follow these releases with three more single releases, like The Moth Song, which released in October of that year. This slow groove features a complex percussive performance, and Harrelson singing over a colorful variety of instrumental performance from a saxophone, Rhodes keyboard, and bass and electric guitar.
2023 would see another three releases, including Purple Veins, as Harrelson really began to establish his aligned connection between modern rock and his one-of-a-kind vintage blues rock sound.
Last year, Harrelson released three more singles, including Bad Habits and the mid-tempo i cant do it. Nothing but organic instrumental and vocal performance, the musicianship soars and is a refreshing sound in a world where digital programming is taking over. There is hardly reverb in the mixes of the production of these songs. It is all performance. This year, Harrelson has released one single, Dem Glasses, which dropped on March 3rd.
About the Song
Break Bread is the second single release by Nashville-based singer/songwriter Jed Harrelson in 2025, and his 15th release overall. Break Bread released on June 2nd, and at nearly 4 minutes, feature Harrelson on vocals and guitar, accompanied by sporadic percussion and horn performances, anchored by bass guitar and drums.
About the Music
I want to talk about Harrelson’s vocals, because they are special. Before I do, I want to talk about the band first. I think when we look at stand out solo artists, such as Jed Harrelson, it’s unintentional but sometimes a passive consequence that the rest of the band gets overlooked. So, let’s start with them (which Harrelson also happens to be a member of).
Instrumentally, Break Bread features lead and rhythm electric guitar, bass guitar, drums, and horns, as mentioned in the stats above. The percussion player is a very solid pocket jazz drummer. I really appreciate the crisp accents he hits. The song doesn’t incorporate too many fills and, because of the disciplined technique, incorporating fills is unnnecessary. This percussion part is clean, precise, and so crisp, it’s almost as articulative as if the kit were speaking words.
One of the most important relationships in a band is the relationship between bass and drums. The bass player and the drummer in this band have a symbiotic relationship where everything is tied together. The bass and drums miss not one single accent or transition. The bass player flows through their performance, doing the very complicated task of bridging melody and rhythm and they have made it sound easy and fluid.
I keep coming back to the word crisp, as if this band were made of fresh picked apples, but once again, the guitars turn in a very “crispy” performance. The rhythm is so clean every single note in every single chord has its place to be heard. Then the lead, adds a little distorted crunch and just absolutely sings, finding the perfect time to bend over the melody of the end of the song.
The horns, serving as amplifications of some of the accent moments in this song, also play an integral part in the vibe of this song.
Break Bread is a very happy marriage between blues rock and mellow jazz. To do these styles of music well, one has to be a talented musician. To do these styles of music combined and to do them well, who have to be able to fucking play. It’s that simple. And you better know how to command a mic.
Jed Harrelson can play and he commands his mic. To be supported by this much musicianship and I still struggle to focus on anything other than the vocals, speaks volumes on just how good he is. Harrelson, as with each of his other releases, doesn’t rely on any editing or production tricks. Instead, the highlight is the performance quality. The tone, the melody and pitch, and the rhythmic cadence of his performance are totally balanced. He also transitions from a clean vocal tone to a dirty, growl, not quite a scream, and then back to a clean, smooth tone.
Final Thoughts
Jed Harrelson doesn’t look like the best name in blues rock in 2025. From Texarkana, Arkansas, he is close enough to Memphis to have caught the influence, but he doesn’t match the stereotype: curly brown hair usually spilling out of a ball cap, a tee shirt, jeans, and an unmistakable southern accent, he looks like the typical southern kid.
When I think of blues, I think of bars that are opaque from lingering smoke, a guy in a cheap suit wearing a bowler hat or fedora, and even though the lighting is dim, that guy is wearing sunglasses.
That shows what we know about stereotypes. Jed Harrelson shuts them up when he opens his mouth. He proves that we don’t have to be from Memphis to “be from Memphis.” He proves that a clean flat 7 chord can sound buttery whether the person playing it is wearing a ball cap or a bowler cap.
Blues rock is not an image. It’s a response to a life lived. Jed Harrelson has apparently lived a life and we’re so lucky that it’s just getting started.
Follow Jed Harrelson:
Additional media:
Listen to Break Bread:
You can catch Jed Harrelson and the band, as they’re currently out on tour! If you happen to be residing in or near a town they’re pulling into, you don’t want to miss it! You can see the current tour schedule on his website and on Spotify.
You really want to go press play!
Comments
Post a Comment