{"id":36,"date":"2010-03-07T01:29:11","date_gmt":"2010-03-07T08:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=36"},"modified":"2010-08-10T16:46:43","modified_gmt":"2010-08-10T23:46:43","slug":"jeff-larson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2010\/03\/jeff-larson\/","title":{"rendered":"JEFF LARSON"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_37\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Jeff-Larson-and-Gerry-Beckley.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-37\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-37\" title=\"Jeff-Larson-and-Gerry-Beckley\" src=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Jeff-Larson-and-Gerry-Beckley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Jeff-Larson-and-Gerry-Beckley.jpg 400w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Jeff-Larson-and-Gerry-Beckley-300x187.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-37\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jeff Larson and Gerry Beckley<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Over the past decade or so, Jeff Larson\u2019s consistent string of smart, hooky and alluringly accessible albums have borne clear references to the Southern California sound of the mid-to-late \u201970s. So it seems fitting that for the lovely and evocative Heart of the Valley he has collaborated with America\u2019s Gerry Beckley and welcomed appearances from soft-rock stalwarts including America\u2019s other half, Dewey Bunnell, Poco pedal steel player Rusty Young and Brian Wilson associate Jeff Foskett. The America signature is immediate and unavoidable, given that Beckley penned the majority of the songs, produced the sessions and contributes the lion\u2019s share of the instrumental duties\u2014guitar, keyboards, bass, accordion, percussion and programming among them. Consequently, the album basks in a hazy supple sheen that helps ballads like the title track, \u201cAirport Calling,\u201d \u201cSouthern Girl\u201d and \u201cFive Mile Road\u201d to invite an instant embrace. Credit Larson\u2019s radiant vocals with accentuating the appeal, giving this set potential placement on adult-oriented soft rock radio\u2014or for that matter, any arena where beautiful balladry, well-crafted compositions and studio savvy still have an opportunity to shine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over the past decade or so, Jeff Larson\u2019s consistent string of smart, hooky and alluringly accessible albums have borne clear references to the Southern California sound of the mid-to-late \u201970s. So it seems fitting that for the lovely and evocative Heart of the Valley he has collaborated with America\u2019s Gerry Beckley and welcomed appearances from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[196,16,32,15],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36\/revisions\/39"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}