Phil Haynes & Free Country: ‘Liberty Now!’

This one has been sitting in my inbox since its release in October, but I’m glad I’m finally reviewing it. Genre is always a tricky thing, particularly when you drill down in jazz, but ‘jazz-grass’ sits as well as any to explain ‘Liberty Now!’ from Phil Haynes and Free Country.

Starting at track one of the first of the double CD release - Situation Ethnics - it’s clear that lines are drawn to and from blues, folk and country music, with a plethora of strings.

I interviewed drummer and composer Phil Haynes for Harmonious World back in July 2025, following the release of his Return to Electric album, which is a very different beast. Liberty Now! has a more mellow flavour and especially when you reach track two - Past Time - there is a sense of a strong social conscience, helping us learn lessons from the past so we can have a more positive impact on the future.

Liberty Now! is the first album in a decade from Free Country. Alongside drummer Haynes are Hank Roberts (cello & voice), Jim Yanda (guitar) and Drew Gress (bass). Through this double CD offering, they all contribute composition as well as performance. Haynes says: “After the American Trilogy and our live record, I felt like the  band was done, but the sound of Free Country and the chemistry that the four of us shared never left my head. I thought about what I would want to do if we ever made another record, and I knew it would have to be our own originals. Each of these terrific musicians are lovely and very personal composers, and when a band comes together with this much chemistry, mutual love and  respect, you write and arrange material very differently.”

Through each of the tracks, there is a sense of that chemistry, writ large through the compositions with their own feeling and focus.

By the time we reach Corner Store Strut, which Haynes composed and begins to establish the groove, there is space for each of these musicians to contribute their own impressions and improvisations. This track in particular has the clear voice of this quartet as they weave around each other.

Issues abound in the titles of the tracks and Liberty Now! marks a moment in time right through America’s recent and earlier history. Reminding us all of the poetic and patriotic America the Beautiful on CD two is perhaps the strongest embodiment of this jazz quartet and its ethos. Sometimes we all need a reminder of our past and our values.

Haynes says of Liberty Now! “We've been thinking about these issues for a long time. It's nice to have a body of work  that will hopefully help people to ruminate on the current environment and also look back and see that our good old days were never totally good ole days. I thought this music might offer people some solace and courage to live through this period and find ways to do things that might have a positive impact.”