I’ll be honest: when I review my personal best-of list for albums I’ve gotten in 2006, Matthew Perryman Jones’s Throwing Punches in the Dark is almost assuredly going to be #1. I have listened to this one so much that it’s really not even funny. Just last night, as I was driving in from Nashville, it was singing along with MPJ that kept me awake. I remember Andrew Osenga mentioning once that TPitD was best listened to late at night, in a car, really loud … and well, that’s where I was. And so I cherished it yet again.

I think the emotional center of the album, for me anyway, starts with “Refuge”, moving through “One Thing More” and “Hard Times”. So, I bring you “Refuge”, which you can also hear on Jones’s MySpace as the track that loads up with the page:

If you’re interested in more of Jones from this show, it was the 20 Jun 2006 release show for Osenga’s The Morning where Jones opened. Also, please remember to buy Throwing Punches in the Dark if this appealed to you: support good art.

As promised, here’s the second of Kei’s interviews, this time with our man Jones:

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Andy Osenga mentioned in a blog post that he will be playing a release show for “The Morning” in Nashville this month. Andy told us this weekend that MPJ will have a band with him as well.

I’m also going to be playing a CD Release show in Nashville on June 20. Matthew will be opening and we’re playing at the Mercy Lounge on 8th Avenue. I’ll have a full band and much rock will be had. I’ll post the flyer for it up here tomorrow and I’d love to get your help spreading the word to get people out to the show.

You heard the man. Start spreading the word.