Jubal Lee Young Album "Squirrels" Review

Artist: Jubal Lee Young

Album: Squirrels

Released: 2025

Artist Website: https://juballeeyoung.com/

Jubal Lee Young's latest release Squirrels is a 16 song Texas style country folk masterpiece. If you're looking for fluffy modern country that talks about pick up trucks, blue jeans and beer over slightly twangy pop music this isn't it. To say this record is a throwback to a better time is misleading. It feels fresh today, because when it is done at this level it is truly timeless. It's not enough to say that it's rooted in the classic country sound. There are lots of folks that can play that role quite well. The difference is Mr. Young isn't acting. He is the character that many competent actors are striving to be.

It was difficult to narrow down a few songs to highlight for this piece, but one that jumped out of the speakers at me was Lost In Hollywood. Starting with the lyric "I was a whiskey cowboy from another universe" sets the mood that is captured wonderfully not only lyrically but also musically. Jubal has the gift of storytelling fully in hand. He has the ability to paint a picture with his words that is reminiscent of Tom Waits at his best. Truly a poet set to music. This cut has vibe to spare. The lyrics and music coupled with a plain cool vocal delivery are glove and hand.

World Without Light is a sweet and concise masterpiece. Coming in at under 3 minutes and still getting the point across as well as Jubal does is not an easy task. Very few artists have that particular skill. It leaves the listener wanting more, and in the case of this track... a lot more. His voice is as relaxed as the biggest fish in the pond and equally strong. This is an artist that is uncommonly comfortable in his skin and stories. That confidence shines through the dark sky like a shooting star.

With so many great songs on this record Welcome To Nashville, Asshole! is one that I couldn't ignore. I suspect in the live atmosphere it is presented in a fun tongue and cheek sort of way and the tourists love it, but it is swimming in truth. It's a story of outsiders coming in and dismantling old Nashville. It's still "Music City" but the music and city sure have changed in the spirit of growth. This song embodies the frustrations of the folks who know what it was. Much like the jazz scene in NYC or the blues scene of Chicago that was replaced by businesses that could afford sky high rents. Sure you can get a fancy $15 cup of coffee, but what you can't find so easily anymore is authenticity.

Jubal Lee Young is a wonderful example of what roots and country music can still be when the need for commercial acceptance takes a backseat to artistry. He is a refreshing reminder that the real thing is still out there and hasn't been completely lost in the glitz of modern Nashville. This 16 song release is what this music was supposed to be, great storytelling put to music at the highest level. His vocals are smoky, relaxed and drenched in roadhouse dirt. The kind of dirt that water doesn't wash off...thankfully. I highly recommend this record to listeners that enjoy the outlaw country sound and real roots that run real deep. It will renew your faith in American roots music.

Check out the interview below!

Tell us the brief history of your band or musical career.

I grew up in a musical household. It was everywhere, all the time. Even still, I really didn’t get totally serious about learning how until I was about 12. It started with some guitar lessons, and pretty shortly after I could string some chords together, I was off and running, trying to write my own songs and learning to sing, too. There were many an obligatory garage band, even a few brushes with “ALMOST!” with a couple of labels in the early 90s.

But ultimately, I kept missing the marks, largely on timing. Nashville had just produced a few rock bands with some success in the late 80s and early 90s, and the industry had moved on to Seattle and Hootie and the Blowfish selling 20,000 copies of a self-produced album. And suddenly, those expectations were on you, too. And then not so long after that, Napster, and then streaming and so on. The ever changing music business. And really, I’m just a dude that wanted to play guitar. The rest has been sort of an accidental journey.

My first commercial release was on Billy Block’s Western Beat Records in 2006. It wasn’t my favorite experience. After that, I self-released and self-promoted with whatever meager budget I could muster. To date, outside of Western Beat paying to manufacture the first 1000 copies of Not Another Beautiful Day, my grandmother and I remain the only people to ever invest hard cash into my music career. True story.

I was on The Voice Season 9 (Fall 2015) with my girlfriend at the time, Amanda. We made it through the blind auditions as a duo and were eliminated in the battle rounds. It was sort of fun in the moment, but I really didn’t want to do it. I kept expecting to get rejected and they just kept waving us through. Careful what you get into.

Very shortly after that, my dad fell, and I stepped back to care for him and finish raising my daughter. That resulted in pretty much the last decade away from a truly active music career. That is until 2024’s Wild Birds Warble. And I continue to re-establish myself on the scene.

Who are your musical and non-musical influences?

My father, Steve Young, is huge amongst my influences. But there have been many, and many phases of my journey as a music listener and consumer. I think it all starts at home, with my parents. Not only their own musicality, but eventually their music collections and choices are my first steps from the children’s records to more commercial genres.

In particular, I found my mother’s 45 collection irresistible starting about age 9 or so. It was full of early and mid 60s stuff from her high school years. Motown, Beatles, Stax, Sun, movie-era Elvis, etc. And eventually, I did get into the LPs where I found stuff like Sgt. Pepper, Cream’s Disraeli Gears, and Dylan’s Highway 61.

Being solidly Gen X, this brought me to Columbia House, where I decided to check out some of the contemporary rock at the time, and found bands like AC/DC, Rush, Boston, Joan Jett, and more. We’re taking early 80s now. I’m 10-11. I’ve now been informed by my peers that listening to my dad’s country records and my parent’s record collection, in general, is NOT cool. So, I fixed that for, like, a penny!

Along the way, I vacillated some, with periods of trying to be into the contemporary rock of my day. Peak metal days. I did love Ozzy, and Ronnie James Dio. I had friends who were into Kiss and Motley Crue, so I didn’t totally escape that. But I was also always into some older stuff like Hendrix, CCR, Zeppelin, Steppenwolf, post-Cream Clapton, mixed with a dash of some contemporary folks like Dire Straits, which weren’t cool until they were with Brothers In Arms. And I was 100% an MTV kid, too.

But right about 1988 and 1989, I discovered Pink Floyd. And I spent about 4 years there. Some other stuff got to me through friends and whatnot, but I was just all over Floyd for a while. I also found that I would revisit things I had listened to years before and find new things within, and more depth.

I spent 17 through my mid-20s in various bands. A lot of it sort of prog rock influenced, though I never really outran my southern core somehow then either. By my mid 20s, I would say my sound was softening towards more of the singer- songwriter rocker. Here’s where that Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen influence asserts itself a bit more.

Eventually, I hit my late 20s and it started to hit me that I really had a musical legacy to honor, and I did begin to study, not just my father’s work, but his influences. I looked at old folk and blues and people like Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, John Lee Hooker, and the early Sun Records days. I let more of the old country in, and had a look at folks like Waylon and Merle again.

But I’m also influenced every day by odd things everywhere. I think the “we all live in a capital I” song from Sesame Street influenced my love of a little of that folky darkness as a kid. It’s everywhere.

Non musical influences would have to include people who insist on being an individual and who stand up for what is right. And even if history isn’t as kind to

them once they have had a chance to sit under the microscope sometimes, your own perception of them at the time or shortly there after can mean the world to you anyway. From John Lennon’s non-musical activism, to MLK, Gandhi, Waylon’s Nashville rebellion, and certainly my own father’s epic journey for artistic expression and self-improvement, as a human, not just a musician.

There were also a lot of strong women in my life. Often who had to make it work in a man’s world. Both of my grandmothers were strong, independent hard working women. My mom was one of the smartest people I have ever encountered. She had a huge influence on my humor and culture and love of language. She was also a songwriter, but I think really enjoyed writing poetry, prose and short stories more. And she was a human encyclopedia. I probably learned more completely accurate information from her in the car, by volumes, than I ever did in school. On almost any subject. She was just a factoid sponge. It was easy to take for granted as her son, but the longer I have lived, the more incredible it becomes to me. I know no one person can know everything, but my mother was testing that.

What album has had the greatest impact on your life as a musician?

In some ways, Pink Floyd The Wall. In others, Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited. But, most concretely, I would probably have to say the Eagles Live album. That’s where they released “Seven Bridges Road” and that really did have, and continues to have, an impact on my life, in a very real way.

Is there a particular song that has resonated with you for a long time?

“Ol’ Blue”. The old Appalachian folk song about the dog. My mother would sing it. It’ll tear you right up. Dogs are extra special.

What’s your favorite accomplishment as a musician thus far?

I’m inclined to say staying true to my own artistic vision and moral compass. It’s not easy for decent folks to thrive in the entertainment industry. I’m living proof. Ha!

But I have managed to dance around the margins of the music business for years now, and I can’t say I have allowed anyone to screw me over, nor do I believe there is anyone out there who could legitimately claim that I screwed them over. That alone is a music business miracle, right there.

Tell me about your favorite performance in your career.

Some nights are just kind of magic. Sometimes especially when you are road weary and not even sure you feel like doing this again tonight. Two that stick out were both like that. One was with Juston Townes Earle in Scotland. I was just on that night and everything I said was not only funny, it was cutting across any and all cultural barriers. It was lovely.

Another was a similar period on tour of just being out of gas, and it was a house concert in Portland Oregon with my dad, Steve, in 2012. And a similar experience. Everything just worked that night. I was exhausted, but some reserve tank kicked in, and I was just ON.

What's the best piece of advice another musician ever gave you?

Other people’s success does not threaten your potential success.

What's new in the recording of your music?

Less of me. It was a process I started on some of the older albums, but on Wild Birds Warble (2024) and Squirrels, I really come in and do my job, and leave it to producer Markus Stadler and the players to do theirs. If I really don’t care for something, I’ll mention it, but that’s pretty rare. I think before I was sometimes trying too much to produce a vision instead of creating a record of a living, breathing thing with other people.

How has your music changed over the years?

Drastically, and yet, no. At my core, I am still attracted to the same basic stuff in music. I gravitate towards blues over jazz and dark over light, and I like it when it’s gritty and moody and makes me feel. And that greatly influences my own musical tendencies, and I feel like it always has, whether I’m 50 and playing Americana or 25 and playing hard rock.

What inspires you to write the music you write?

Life and a warped sensibility, mostly, I think. It’s hard to say. I used to write what I knew, which the younger and dumber you are, the more limited your palette is to paint with. My dad got on my case as a young writer because it was all boy/girl love related stuff. And I heard him. So I started writing derivative stuff about angst and isolation. And it all morphed into whatever it became. I will still produce a love song now and then, but my dad was right. You can write a song about anything, and there are so many more interesting things to write about than just that all the time. I try to find something left of center or meaningful to the human condition overall, instead of a hyper-fixation on romance.

What made you want to play the instrument you play?

I grew up around guitars. I have a very vivid memory of thinking the solo at the end of Queen’s “We Will Rock You” was just the coolest thing I had ever heard, so I might actually have to say that triggered something, even if it was still a few years before I would act on it. I think the Beatles helped, too.

How does your latest album differ from any of your others in the past?

Wild Birds Warble and Squirrels are sort of loosely intended to be companion albums. Both produced by Markus Stadler and both feature almost the same lineup of players. And really, even though they spanned a year and half overall, I guess, the sessions never really fully ended for long between them. And I think we stumbled on a brilliant way for me to make records, which is that I go in and record my parts live, both vocals and guitar, to a click track. So it’s just me doing my job. I leave, and Markus adds his parts, and has the other guys add theirs, and eventually it’s done. And I may make a few notes as we mix, but generally the fixes are few. And I think that has been perfect for what I am doing.

In the past, I think I accepted performances or songs from myself that weren’t quite there. In part because I think I was also trying to do too much. Too much thinking, too much attempting to steer the ship, etc. I think, as an artist, I have learned to pick the right people and trust them to do their jobs, and sometimes that requires you to let go of preconceived notions of what something should be or sound like. I have learned, finally, to let these things be what they want to be, without so much meddling from me, because maybe I got really attached to some demo I had done previously, or some soundscape in my head. I think putting away the drums and electric guitars for now has also been great. It allows more of the raw energy to come through somehow. For years, people would tell me that there was something missing from my albums that was present live. And I think Markus figured out how to get it captured. It’s an energy that was easily lost or covered by more traditional production techniques and instrumentation.

How are you continuing to grow musically?

I am always open to new influences, but as I have aged, I think it has really become more about honing the skills you have. The pandemic made me focus more on my voice, getting more control, learning to use it more effectively with less strain, and so on. And the results are clear. I think I am better now than at any point before, vocally. More or less the same as far as guitar playing. It takes constant effort and work to get good and stay good. And I haven’t had the pleasure of touring the last several years. The repetition is always helpful, too. I look forward to getting back out there some in the near future.

Are there any musicians who inspire you that are not famous? What qualities

do you admire about them?

Lots. I have many unfamous friends who are amazing talents and who work hard at this. But, my own dad was not exactly famous. He wrote a couple of famous songs, and there is a handful of extra hip people who knew him, but fame would be a stretch. And his influence on me was immense.

I admire anyone who just keeps going. It’s a measure of commitment. People who are in it for ego and attention quit when it gets tough. Then there are the people who have never known it to not be tough, and they just keep going. They keep playing gigs, they keep writing, they keep posting videos, and I’m here for it. The odds are long for us all, and then there just has to be so much that’s perfect to really become a star. And there is simply something to be said for being consistent and just keeping at it, carving a canyon like a slow rolling river, and finding your niche in this world. I admire that in folks I know and folks I don’t know.

Describe your worst performance. What did you learn from this experience?

I mean, there are plenty of gigs that didn’t go well, but few where I really just felt terrible about it. I have been in situations where my endurance was not up for the length of the gig or I was running short of material too early, and that’s a horrifying feeling. But after a while, you learn to push through, tell a long story, deal with the aching fingers and hoarseness tomorrow and the show must go on.

Tell me what your first music teacher was like. What lessons did you learn from them that you still use today?

My first official guitar teacher was a gentleman that my dad found through an ad because he didn’t feel like he could effectively teach me. I took from him for about a year before he moved out of state. I think of the many ways he got me on the path, one of them has become a fundamental thing for me. And that is simply to play a riff slow and build up the speed gradually when you’re learning it. Ha! It really helps!

How would your previous band mates describe you and your work ethic?

My mind immediately goes back to the 90s for this question, and the series of rock bands I had, often with overlapping membership. And I would say they probably saw me as a bit of a workaholic and sometimes too intense. But also sort of brilliant. Mostly I have dealt with hired guns since then, as a solo artist.

If you could play anywhere or with anyone in the world, where or with who would it be?

I think it would be a wonderful feeling to have a large amphitheater of people singing one of your songs back to you because they know and love it. I don’t even need to be more specific than that. Anywhere would be great.

If you could change anything about the music industry today, what would it be?

This is tricky. As an independent artist, I am grateful for the tools of the modern age that allow you to put your music out there for people to find. The problem is, so is everybody else, and it still takes money to market above the din and get attention. So there are also times where I miss the gatekeepers that were the labels. On the other hand, they got progressively lazier and lazier through the 80s and 90s and stopped doing a lot of their job. So... like I said... it’s tricky. But maybe some version of the label system was better as far as the quality of music, on some levels? Hard to say.

What are your biggest obstacles as a musician?

It’s almost always been funding and financing. If I had more support as a young man to pursue music, I daresay I would have made a run of it. Instead, I got a lot of other messaging about how impossible it was and how it wasn’t a real job and I should go to college and do something steady. They were all wrong, of course. But it still comes down to money, really. You need it to survive, and it’s increasingly hard to make in this industry. Quite an obstacle.

What do you think the best aspects of the music business are?

That it IS hard. Otherwise, everybody would do it.

What strengths do you have that you believe make you the musician you are?

Stubbornness. I won’t quit. No matter how hard it has been, no matter how inconvenient, no matter how tempting it has been sometimes to just give up music and move on, I haven’t, and I won’t. It’s air and water for me. I must do it to live.

Do you have any weaknesses that you're actively working to improve on?

Lots of them and all the time. Nothing too overwhelming or weird, but my parents both set good examples as people who were trying to improve themselves. Especially when I was young. My father became sober in late 1979 and within a few years, my mom was also trying to deal with her eating disorder, and it was the 80s and psychology was all the rage and eventually there was a treatment center on every corner, and self-help books littered the NYT Bestseller list. So they certainly weren’t alone, it was a national thing, but they were a part of it. And my dad especially always kept trying to be better. And I am trying to do that, too.

I think in addition to working on me, I have had a laser focus on breaking generational curses for my daughter, too. Breaking the cycles of family dysfunction is amazing. I highly recommend it for everyone. My daughter’s relationship with food is healthy and normal, and that was something that affected me when I was young and plagued my mom and her mom most of their lives. Her relationship with alcohol is healthy and normal, which is something that affected me when I was younger, and my father, and his father. And, so, I am very grateful to both of my parents for wrestling with their demons and beginning this process. It was work I am glad I was able to continue eventually, and I’m very happy to not be handing down bad coping mechanisms to the next generation.

Describe your favorite and least favorite part about being a musician.

Favorite is just the creative process, in general. It’s really amazing. To go from this weird song idea, to a written song, to a recorded song, to a video for the song, and so on and repeat as needed. It’s a great thing to be a part of.

Least favorite is the business side. And the injustice of the whole thing, really. That Daniel Ek is a billionaire while we joke about receiving $0.27 cent checks from Spotify for sometimes thousands of plays. It’s obscene, really.

Do you have any anxiety about performing live?

I do and I think I only really recently came to realize and accept that I probably have undiagnosed ADHD and some anxiety, and I probably always have. And it’s not really a matter of not being thrilled to be on stage, but I need what I need to be comfortable and confident. And when I’m not, I can get rattled and then sometimes the mind races, the lyric gets flubbed, etc. My brain is a bit overactive and it’s not hard for me to lose focus in a live setting. I have to actively make myself focus. Otherwise, my mind will wander during the guitar solo and I’ll forget which verse I was on. It’s a thing. And I’m working on it.

If you had to choose one ... live performance or studio work, which do you prefer and why?

I really love the studio. Sometimes I think I was born a generation late. I would have loved to have been one of those bands like Pink Floyd where they send us to some castle with a recording studio for 3 months and see what we come up with. It’s hard to capture all of that really, in your basement, on Logic Pro. It’s just not the same.

Not that I don’t enjoy playing live, I do, but as I said before, it’s easy for me to get uncomfortable in that process as well.

What do you think about online music sharing?

I think it helped end a lot of the old ways and old money in the music business, and I do not always think that was a good thing. I really didn’t ever understand the entitlement. It’s not like we weren’t running our friends off a cassette copy of an album back in the 80s, but one of us still had to buy the album, and mechanical and writers royalties were generated all the way down the food chain as a result. And eventually your friend would probably just buy an official copy anyway, after he mowed enough yards or whatever.

But the file sharing stuff was different, and the attitude about it was uglier, in my opinion. I mean, unpopular opinion, but in a lot of ways, Metallica wasn’t wrong. It was just Lars’ delivery that rubbed people wrong, I think.

Describe your creative process when you write new music.

It can vary wildly. Sometimes it’s music first, sometimes, it’s lyric first. Some songs come out all at once pretty much finished, others I pick at now and then over weeks, months, even years. There is no rhyme or reason to when inspiration will strike. I appreciate the smartphones and their notes apps. Sometimes in the 90’s you had to jot something down before you forgot it with eyeliner on a gas receipt. It was mayhem.

Other than being a musician, what was your dream job growing up?

I had the trifecta of 80s teen nonsense going for me: I was gonna be a rock star, a football star, or a stand-up comedian. Full stop. At least I was a confident little fella.

Give us some advice for new musicians just starting out in the industry.

Get ready to learn to be a marketing guru, a graphic designer, a video editor, a web specialist, a shipping and receiving worker, warehouse manager, a social media manager, booking agent, bus driver, customer service, content creator, and tour manager. And you still have to play the shows and write the new material and make the new records. And sleep somewhere in there.

Otherwise, have a lot of money and hire people for all of that.

What is your favorite piece of gear and why?

I have a 1997 Martin HD-28 that my dad gave me. He found it used and gave it to me for my 32nd birthday in 2003. It was my first Martin. And it was my road workhorse until recently. I did finally decide I wasn’t taking it on the road anymore, and got a newer Martin to replace it for touring. It still records great though. I just don’t see any reason to risk it out there anymore.

How do you prepare for your performances and recording work?

Just good old repetition. I try to pick a few songs to play every day and just try to keep them up. It’s a little different playing the odd gig now and then as opposed to steady touring with a relatively consistent set list. It’s harder to get in a groove, so lately, and until the touring picks up for me, I just tend to make the set list and play anything that I feel a little unsure about several times in the days before the show or session. It’s not rocket surgery. Good old fashioned practice, really.

What does your practice routine consist of?

I just keep guitars around me in my work area. It’s easy to just grab it and start playing something at the drop of a hat. And it just happens like that off and on all day.

What do you like most about your new album?

I think this is the best collection of original songs that I have ever made an album with, and I think I am more at the peak of my powers than I have ever been. I am actually extremely proud of Squirrels. It really captures where I’m at right now. Which is what an album is supposed to do for an artist, I think.

What artists do you enjoy listening to nowadays?

I still love what I love. It’s hard to get older folks to listen to newer stuff sometimes, I guess. But I have a teen daughter, and, trust me, she has controlled the music in the car for years now. Thankfully, she has pretty good taste, and also listens to a lot of stuff that I have through the years. The Black Widow movie triggered a Nirvana obsession, the Dylan movie got her into Bob and Joan Baez, and various other outlets have introduced her to bands like Queen, Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, the Beatles, and many more. Often it’s Film and television where she hears the classic stuff. There are literally times when I couldn’t tell you if we were listening to my playlist or hers.

But, she has also brought some newer stuff to the table, and therefore to me. I’m at the table. Newer artists include Chappell Roan, Olivia Rodrigo, Noah Kahan, Taylor Swift, Hozier, Arctic Monkeys/Last Shadow Puppets, Billie Eillish, Boy Genius, and others. A lot of which we have gone to see live. So I’m pretty much IN. So hip.

How do you promote your band and shows?

A lot of social media, frankly. Some strategic ad buying. Hopefully a lot of word of mouth, just because people think it’s good and worthy. That can really help. And sometimes, good old fashioned flyers in the venue in the weeks before your show.

What is the best way to stay updated on current news; gigs, releases, etc.?

Having a teenager in the house has been my go-to recently. I mean, I’m terrible on my own. I’m a hyper-creative who can’t stop creating things and sometimes that leads to my being tragically unhip. The last to know, as it were. But, I am sure that signing up for the email list of artists, labels, venues, etc of the folks you want to hear from is still a great one.

Anything you would like to share, from new merch to upcoming shows/tours or songs/albums?

There is merch on my website. www.juballeeyoung.com. I don’t actually remember to promote that much. And of course, coming soon, will be the new album, Squirrels. August 15. It will be streaming everywhere, but there will also be CDs and a 180g vinyl LP available eventually. The digital and CD version is 16 songs, the vinyl is 12. It ends with “World Without Light”.

What's next for your band?

Finding a booking agent. That’s the one team member I haven’t managed to attract yet. Otherwise, we are ready to release this album and do what we can to play where we can. I do two regular weekly video features currently. The Sunday Jubilee is a short song discussion that comes out Sundays at Midnight Eastern. The other is Quick Sets from The Squirrel’s Nest, which is usually me, Markus, and Charlie playing 3-4 songs. We record it live, but it’s not broadcast that way. We tape on a Tuesday and I put it together for Thursday at 5 PM Eastern.

What are your interests outside of music?

Well, I literally did get a graphic design degree in 2001. And over the pandemic, I tried to hone my recording engineer and video editing skills, and managed to do so. I enjoy all of those things. But you see, I wasn’t kidding about all the jobs you have to do to be a modern musician. Ha!

I also do enjoy cooking. At least sometimes. My daughter and I watch plenty of

films and select shows, too.And there’s the Playstation. I get into a meditative state on some games.

Tell us a fun fact about yourself.

I was once nearly trampled by Anne Murray backstage at the Grand Ol’ Op’ry when I was about 6. She was hurrying down a hallway and didn’t see me. She knocked me down, and felt so terrible, she stopped and talked to me and hugged on me for like 10 minutes. Very sweet lady.

Are there any artists outside of your genre that have not had much influence on your music that you enjoy?

I’m so all over the map. Absolutely. I doubt you hear much Porcupine Tree in me at this point, but I love that stuff. You could probably say the same about a lot of the more mainstream country all the way back to the 80s for me. Some of it is perfectly enjoyable, and I might even like some of it, but it’s nothing I would do. Who the hell doesn’t like “Low Places”, “Rodeo”, or his version of “Shameless”? But I could never be Garth Brooks. And I never actually owned any of his albums.

Anything Else You Would Like to Include?

Try to be kind to everyone you meet!