This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Mason Jennings played a two-night stand at The State Room this pasy weekend, and Ahora Utah writer Normand Garcia was there the first night. I asked him to send me a few notes, and here they are:
Mason Jennings made it clear that to make good music and perform a great show, you do not need to have a whole band.The singer-songwriter surprised with his skills on guitar, piano and harmonica during his two appearances last Friday and Saturday, at the State Room in Salt Lake City.Jennings, an indie folk-rock musician from Minneapolis. stopped in the land of Zion for a national tour promoting his new album "Minnesota," released last September.The solo singer said on Friday that many times he was asked during interviews, "What is the deal" behind the name of his new album, because according to them, "there was nothing about Minnesota."Well, he explained that he wrote a bunch of songs on the album and they were from all "super places." But why the name of Minnesota? Apparently, it is because he is in a deep love with the natural "contrast" of his adopted town."[There] you have the wilderness redness to the art essence, and then this incredibly cold winter and extremely hot summer, and I really like the 'contrast' of it and everything [of what I do] in my art," Jennings said. He added that this is why he wrote the song called "Bitter Heart" — the first song of the album — about the "melancholy with the hope".Jennings also play "The Field," from his album "Blood of Man," a song that was inspired by his conversations with veterans and family members of the soldiers that fought in both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars."By talking to all these people I started to have this feeling about what there is like, and this is the song — it came true about this conversations," he said.From the lyrics: "If I was the President, and my world turned black. I would want no victory, I'd just want you back ..."