This came out in 2003 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Everybody needs a hobby — even John Hermann, the keyboardist with southern-rock jammers Widespread Panic.
On his off time, he’s Jojo Hermann. Jojo writes and sings his own songs. He leads a scrappy, rootsy little combo in Oxford, Miss. And he makes personable albums like 2001’s Smiling Assassin and its followup Defector, a relaxed, free-wheeling batch of roots-pop, country-rock and folk-blues. Smart enough to enlist a new band that’s every bit as capable as his old one, Hermann once again teams up with Luther and Cody Dickinson from the North Mississippi All-Stars — and even drafts some new recruits from R.L. Burnside’s combo — to keep numbers like And You Wonder Why, When It’s My Time and Gonna Get A Ride firmly anchored in Delta mud. Granted, his vocals — a dry nasal twang multi-tracked into a sound midway between NRBQ and Blue Rodeo — are admittedly an acquired taste. Even so, for a guy who only exists now and then, Jojo Hermann certainly comes off as the real deal on Defector.
