Jeff Ament’s debut CD rooted in Montana
Published: October 14, 2008
Montana native Jeff Ament – best known as the bassist for Pearl Jam – released a debut solo project, Tone, in September.
The new recording features 10 original tracks by Ament, culled from 50-plus “works in progress.” Penned over the last eight years, the final collection offers a look into Ament's early life in Montana and how it has shaped his music.
Much like the musician’s own life story, Tone tells the tale of a group of characters from a small town in Montana and their slow integration into life in the big city. Ament says the album emerged from his desire to take care of the “unfinished business” of paring down original works into a batch of like-minded and introspective songs.
Featuring a little help from drummer Richard Stuverud (The Fastbacks, War Babies, Three Fish) and King's X frontman Dug Pinnick, Tone touches on many musical influences. In his own words, it’s “Jeff unchecked, left to my own devices, playing instruments I’m not comfortable with, singing, pushing and painting myself into corners.”
With titles like “Hi-Line and “The Only Cloud in the Sky,” the collection is “part mountaintops and rural Montana, and part big city. I typically gravitate towards darker characters and sounds, but there’s a major chord or two to be found,” Ament writes on the Pearl Jam website.
Tone reflects the importance he places on the environment: “All of the characters on this record are looking for some kind of truth and nature seems to be the one place they can find it. There’s nothing better than being outside whether it’s swimming in the ocean, digging in the dirt or breathing fresh air after it rains.”
In addition to pushing musical boundaries, Ament also created cover art for the CD, an Icarus-like image. “I just started painting and that’s what came out. This Icarus flew too close to the city though, and got burned by pollution, consumerism, politicians and dirty water.”
Asked by a fan about his support for U.S. Sen. Jon Tester (the two men both grew up in Big Sandy, and Pearl Jam played a benefit concert for Tester during his race for that Senate seat), Ament writes: “Tester rules. I am proud to have grown up in the same small town and that our band got involved early on a played a show for him.”
For more on the album, visit www.pearljam.com.
