Spotlight: Gerry Cinnamon
“Dark days, but I got sun rays 'Cause I know that there's an easier way to love”
I’m just gonna be honest here, this is more of a focus on introducing a wider audience to the phenomenal Scottish singer/songwriter Gerry Cinnamon, than solely focusing on his AMAZING new album, The Bonny. Music fans in/around Scotland and the European region as a whole are unlikely to need any sort of introduction, but for my fellow Americans (and everyone else around the world), y’all need to be educated!
Singer/songwriter is a term that gets thrown around loosely, and Gerry Cinnamon takes it to another level. After taking a Scrooge McDuck dive into his catalog and watching countless live videos, it’s difficult to find words that do him justice. It’s also difficult to narrow The Bonny down to only a few songs for a review, because every single song is stellar. One time through I might love some more than others, but the next time through I love others more. My love for this album is like Rorschach’s mask in The Watchmen, it’s constantly evolving and shifting, but it’s always there.
Gerry, born Gerard Crosbie, adopted the Cinnamon last name after an earlier band he fronted called The Cinnamons. Since going solo, his live performances have built up an INSANE reputation, especially for someone who has done the majority of his own promotions and releases his music from his own label, Little Runaway. Reading stories of legendary venues selling out within hours primarily through word of mouth is unheard of. To quote some excellent scholars of yore, “We’re not worthy!“
Gerry Cinnamon’s 2nd album, The Bonny, was released on Friday, April 17th, through Little Runaway. I started writing this the following day in anticipation of our site going live shortly, and have come back to this album repeatedly since. It’s infectious, and I am infected! What’s funny is The Bonny flew onto my radar the night before release, basically by chance/accident while I was bumbling around Social Media. Rarely does fate intervene in such a wonderful and glorious way!
I’ve been talking about Cinnamon to anybody and everybody the last week. One such person is a buddy who lived in Scotland a couple of years ago, but wasn’t familiar. He immediately fell in love and texted multiple songs as they blew him away. He summed Cinnamon up by saying he “takes the best parts of country and folk and combines them.“ Pretty solid summarization, my dude! Another area he and I agreed about is Cinnamon’s embracing of his accent, instead of hiding it.
One of the biggest bummers in discovering Gerry Cinnamon is the realization he was supposed to play here, in Austin, on May 11th, opening for Dropkick Murphys and Rancid. D'oh! This would have been his first tour in the United States. Just rub salt in the wound will you, and maybe pour some hot sauce in there while you're at it!
I could talk about how much I love this album until the cows come home, but i think it'll be better for you to just listen to some of his music below.
- Josh
Scope the infectious "Where We're Going" with this video featuring footage of his live tours
Prepare for the stellar, “Mayhem“
Bonus Track, since I quoted it at the beginning, “Dark Days“
