portrait by Clayton Walsh.
by Jonathan Bannister (@j_utah)
Jeff Zagers is a Savanna, GA musician who has recently released an album of covers on Wharf Cat Records. Today we have his newest video from that album for the song "The Dark End of the Street". As I watch the video and listen to the song, the news keeps showing images of the insane thunderstorms currently tearing up the Texas night sky. It’s fitting imagery for a song about illicit love that’s always on the verge of exposure. One lightening strike away from being found out.
"The Dark End of the Street" is a song originally done by James Carr in 1966 and has been covered by the likes of Afghan Whigs, Cat Power, Frank Black, and even Linda Ronstadt. Zagers' original work can be off-kilter but here the sparse arrangement gives it a feeling of being bathed in tungsten lighting. It’s warm. There’s also a confessional tinge like someone baring their soul to an empty church late at night. A hymn of admittance to themselves, saying what they can’t say to someone else.
The video itself adds to this vibe. Images of fire lit nights, desolate streets, Zagers superimposed over them from some isolated place. A transmission from reality making its way into a dream that won’t last. Check out the video below and be sure to pick up the album here.
"The Dark End Of The Street" was filmed by Jeff Zagers and Jeremiah Stuard and edited by Jeremiah Stuard. All For The Love Of Sunshine is out now on Wharf Cat Records.