A Simple Life on Land
Artist: Andy Juhl 
Label: Indie
Time: 11 tracks / 40:51
 
On the CD insert for A Simple Life on Land, Andy Juhl thanks his ‘family, friends, and Super Grover’ for inspiration – maybe he should have tried to get Super Grover to appear on the album, since Juhl’s family and friends were not quite enough to make this project very inspiring on its own. Juhl wrote and sings all of the songs, plays guitar, banjo, and a very Dylan-esque harmonica, often accompanying himself as a solo artist. On the ‘band’ tracks, which fare somewhat better than Juhl in solo troubadour mode, Andy is joined by John Juhl on drums, percussion, and backing vocals, Brian David on bass, and Cindy Juhl on French Horn (a refreshingly welcome diversion on “Let’s Go Round One More Time”). Despite the fact that the band is mostly made up of family members, Andy has apparently resisted the temptation of calling them ‘The Family Juhls.’ Naturally, I never stoop to such puns – I just thought I’d point that out….
 
Listening to A Simple Life on Land reminded me of hearing the first crop of Christian rock albums back in the early days of the Jesus Movement – there was plenty of sincerity but very little polish. Juhl is a competent guitarist and a fair songwriter, but the songs aren’t strong enough to overcome this poorly produced project, which only really comes to life twice, on the instrumental tracks, one of which, “The Big Cabin,” features Juhl on acoustic guitar(s) sounding very good indeed, in a Richard Cummins / Phil Keaggy mode. On “Down the Lane Part 2,” Juhl and band attempt a drum-driven rock instrumental that potentially could work, given better production. This is a fairly old-school track, featuring very late-seventies guitar stylings and relying heavily on a wah-wah pedal. 
 
Over all, the band is simply not up to the standard we’d expect on a professional recording, and – I simply have to say this – Juhl’s vocals are quite weak and not at all memorable. While there are occasional moments that are interesting – a chord change here, a Simon and Garfunkle-like harmony there – they’re few and far between and are not enough to put this very amateur sounding project over the top. The most impressive thing about the CD, in fact, is the packaging, which actually is well designed.
 
As Andy Juhl’s banjo accompanies his thin vocal on the last track, he sings, “Now we finally reach the end I never thought would come.” Unfortunately, those were pretty much the same words I was thinking, Andy….
 
 
By Bert Saraco 
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