Eddie Vedder Goes Into the Wild

Edward Louis Severson III, a.k.a. Eddie Vedder, burst onto the music scene in 1991 as the lead singer for the group Pearl Jam, as they released their debut album Ten. Unfortunately the early success of this seminal work seemed to affect the band over the following years as their music appeared to lose direction at times and the quality suffered.

Eddie and his signature mumbly baritone has returned to catch our attention, this time with a solo effort. Courtesy of director Sean Penn, Eddie was coerced into writing music for the film Into the Wild. He ended up doing the entire score, including playing all instruments on the album. Impressive..!

There is a definite connection between Vedder’s work here and the movie’s story of Chris McCandless, the college graduate that set out on a hitchhiking tour to find his truth. The nine original and two cover songs are all done with conviction and the requisite contemplative emotions necessary to the nature of the film.

Now all you Pearl Jam fans out there, this is not an album of the grunge rock that you have come to expect. We categorize this music squarely in the folk genre, but Eddie’s vocals and music manage to appeal to a wide audience here, even winning a Golden Globe for the song Guaranteed.

When you are in the mood to listen to something mellow and introspective, we recommend giving this a play. Our compliments to Eddie for this fine work and to Sean Penn as well for making it happen.

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