Damien Jurado is the sort of songwriter who straddles rock's past and future, and with each
record contributes a new chapter to an ever-fruitful body of work. Before we move onto the next
chapter, we look back at his first album with Secretly Canadian. An instant classic when released
in 2003, Where Shall You Take Me? was his fifth full-length, and is a beautiful collection of ten
Raymond Carver-esque vignettes terror and bliss in Middle America. Arriving two decades after
Springsteen's Nebraska, Jurado put the darker, more complicated side of the heartland back on
the map with his tales of young love (some requited; some not), innocent fun and bloodshed.
Mostly acoustic with very sparse band arrangements – with the notable exception being the old
live favorite "Texas to Ohio," which sounds like a Scarecrow-era Mellencamp hit–Jurado
displayed the songwriting talent that turns back the hands of time to a place in which his tunes
sound like they've been floating around, passed down from generation to generation.
Celebrating the 10th anniversary of this fine release comes a deluxe 2xLP vinyl reissue,
incorporating unreleased basement reel demos, and the Just In Time For Something EP (never
before released on vinyl).
"If it were not for Jason Molina, I may not have ended up on the Secretly Canadian record
label. The guy practically twisted one arm behind my back, and with the other, walked me
through the front door of where I am today. I am eternally grateful for the guidance,
knowledge, influence, and inspiration he so graciously shared with me. The reissue of this
album is dedicated to his life and legacy." - Damien Jurado
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