JENNY TOLMAN - Timbuktu - Old Sol Records

Jenny Tolman has had a keen knack for introducing the characters who reside in her created town of “Jennyville” since 2019’s There Goes The Neighborhood, which she continued doing, albeit with a bit more personal touch, throughout last year’s Married In A Honky Tonk.

2023 has since seen Tolman unveiling the first couple pieces of her highly anticipated new material with the honky-tonk branded kiss off “Right Back” and the stunningly heartbreaking “Rodeo Must Be A Woman.” But she now delivers what might be her strongest, most prolific single yet, “Timbuktu.”

The song, co-written with her husband, Grammy-nominated producer, Dave Brainard and Holly McCubbin, is dedicated to those who’ve served in our military and inspired by Brainard’s own military background and Tolman’s personal struggles with postpartum depression, carrying the weight of the very heavy subject of PTSD and its effects on mental health.

Bringing to light one of the major hurdles faced by our military heroes, but by craftily being told from the perspective of the loved one who is left to care for their spouse through their battle, Tolman skillfully uses the instrumentation, softness of the melody, and expertise within her vocal prowess to add a dynamic flavor to the song’s overall aura that makes the listener stop and listen.

The ever present steel guitar lacing the backing instrumentation adds a sorrowful tilt, as Tolman paints a picture through the opening verse of not only what she’s seeing in the physical but how it’s weighing on their deteriorating relationship, telling of his boots sitting by the welcome mat, his whiskey glass covered in his fingerprints, and the smile on his face only appearing in old photos, while highlighting the distance forming between them when she laments, “your heart might as well be in Timbuktu.”

Lifting her voice into a purely angelic tone, she grips heartstrings through the chorus as she cries out:

“Timbuktu where are you

Beyond the hurt you’re going through

There’s nothing I wouldn’t do

To keep from losing you to Timbuktu”

Utilizing the second verse, she expertly takes the listeners inside of her own specific memory bank before embodying the sheer helplessness that she’s feeling when she exhaustedly hushes through the bridge that she’d reach out to pull him through the dark, if only her arms could reach out as far as he is gone.

Jenny Tolman has always delivered an unapologetic showcase of knowing just how to utilize the power of her vocals within a lyric regardless of its tempo and content matter, but with “Timbuktu,” she elevates to an entirely different level that makes you ponder one of the largest issues we are facing in mental health today.

In conjunction with the release of "Timbuktu," Tolman has partnered with Operation Stand Down Tennessee to raise awareness and funds for their Operation Connect program, which supports efforts in outreach and suicide prevention for veteran men and women in 20 counties across the Tennessee region.

(Review Written By: Jeffrey Kurtis)

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