Jackopierce – Everywhere All The Time (2012)

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Everywhere All The Time underscores the idea that Jackopierce’s new-millennium reboot isn’t about nostalgia, so much as continuing to explore the duo’s still-maturing creative relationship — all while reminding us what made this Dallas-based band so special in the first place.

This is the 11th release for Jackopierce, which features vocalists Cary Pierce and Jack O’Neill with a revolving group of additional performers. The band, which scored a radio hit in the 1990s with “Vineyard,” issued a handful of indie releases and two projects for A&M Records (and selling some 400,000 albums) before taking a break. They’ve produced four more, including two live discs, since returning in 2002.

This project makes clear all over again why that’s such welcome news: Everywhere All The Time is a breezy mixture of roots rock, country, R&B and earnest singer-songwriter themes — as approachable as it is listenable. How approachable? The opening track, a Pierce-sung aw-shucks-I-don’t-deserve-her-themed delight called “Into Me,” gushes that his love interest is “part Vanessa, part Denise Huxtable.”

From there, Jackopierce — this time with O’Neill offering a disarmingly vulnerable vocal — delves deeper into the emotional complexities of finding that long-hoped for love on “Finally Free.” In this way, Everywhere All The Time moves with a fluid grace between Pierce and O’Neill’s offerings, as the band reclaims a sound and feel that has since driven smash-hit offerings from the likes of John Mayer, Gavin DeGraw and Jason Mraz.

“We Can Work It Out” leaps forward with a jangle-pop propulsion, even as the lyric tries to bridge the gap between two once-passionate lovers. “Listen To Me,” meanwhile, skips along like a twilit front-porch picking session. “Change Your Mind” might just be the most radio-ready moment here, with its anthematic musical arc and light-filled sense of optimism.

Finally, Jackopierce references one of its earlier hits, and in a winkingly humorous way, with a fun reggae-inspired redo of their own “Three of Us In a Boat.” Back then, they were just a couple of kids out of Southern Methodist University, trying to make their way, and maybe a bit too fresh faced to completely absorb the meaning of a line like: “I’ve found new days of sunshine.”

With Everywhere All The Time, it rings true in a whole new way.

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Also featured on ‘Everywhere All The Time,’ issued by Pierce’s Foreverything Music and Nashville’s Be Music and Entertainment, are guitarist Peter Thorn (Melissa Etheridge), bassist Sean Hurley (John Mayer) and keyboardist Michael Farrell (Morrissey).

Nick DeRiso