BY: Hallie Horton
John Vincent III is the man of your folk pop dreams, coming to carry you through whatever you’re facing – longing, loving, aching, healing, crashing, growing. You name it, he’ll get you through. This Ohio-born singer-songwriter’s gift, more than singing, song-writing, or playing the guitar, is helping you settle into the messy, raw, unpretentious glory of being human. His lyrics are multidimensional in the way happiness and sadness, tragedy and triumph, birth and grief, can all exist in the same moment in time. His music is supremely therapeutic in that it is the essence of everything it means to be alive.
It’s obvious in listening to Vincent’s records that he’s paying attention to the nuances of life – no lesson, expression, or sound unnoticed. This being said, there’s a tinge of mortal awareness present in much of his work. He is a master at speaking to the ephemeral nature of life. In his album “Songs from the Valley,” he urges us to reflect on and let go of the fears that keep us stagnant. We all need a little faith, and Vincent provides through “Slow Song.”
“All the days, they pass us by. And all the nights, they wander on by. Now I jut sit here and wonder why I can’t keep up with my own life…I’m trying to find my way. I promise I’ll be home soon. And I put my faith in my own hands, see where I go. Oh, I threw my fears into the ocean, hoping that they’d be washed away.”
Later in the album, it feels as though Vincent has grown up, or perhaps that he’s learning about this unshakable presence of regret from a different point of view. “City Rain” is a piece about the reconciliation one must create with oneself at the end of a life which has been spent sleepwalking in cowardice. In sitting with this song, you know he’s learned (or, is learning) to live alive from someone who could never quite figure it out. Or perhaps Vincent is alluding to a life he sees coming to fruition should he not cultivate the faith mentioned in the previous “Slow Song.” Vincent sings,
“And now you’re sixty, and all your dreams are so far away and you hate the way that you’ve lived your life. Well at least you made a few bones. And all your kids have left the nest and you’re all alone with your fading memory and you’re so lonely. Well, at least you’ve got a nice home.”
Vincent uses his musical gifts to send a gentle reminder the younger generations of what really matters, and it’s certainly not the beautiful home or the electric car or the having millions in the bank. His reach will no doubt continue to grow simply because his message is one that is not just important – it’s vital. And for what it’s worth…John Vincent III is a must-see as far as live shows are concerned. This is soul music through and through.