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Bombardier Jones' "Dare To Hope" blends rock and roots in 10 songs about staying cool and getting wild. At the album's center are the wry, evocative lyrics and vocals of Ian Jones, underscored by driving rhythm and lush arrangements from crack session players: drummer Dave Mattacks (Fairport Convention, XTC), guitarist Kevin Barry (Roseanne Cash, Ray Lamontagne), keyboardist Jon Carroll (Eric Lindell, Starland Vocal Band) and bassist Ian Espey (Dead Whale Ramblers). In a change from 2015's breakup album "Can't Conquer Me," Jones addresses our times in a defiant mood: fighting for enthusiasm against despair, unity against isolation. The album plays with classic American music forms - from the unhinged Jerry Lee Lewis stomp of "Stay Wild" to the psychedelic "unplug" manifesto "Great Idea" - in a string of rich vocal ballads, horn-toasted twang rock and mellow earworms that dare the listener to hope in an anxious era. "It's so easy to feel bleak and get ground down, especially these days. I'm calling for all-out rebellion against anxiety: reject hopelessness, keep the light on. In tough times, you still have it within you to not only survive but prosper - and have some fun along the way," Jones says "The new songs say: breathe, dance, play, raise hell, shake your blues away." Bombardier Jones has been the musical handle of Baltimore-based singer-songwriter and record producer Ian Jones since the release of "This is the King of Suck" in 1996 and the acclaimed semi-acoustic "Dustbowl" album in 1997. The band's ever-changing lineup has rocked and rolled around the Washington DC area ever since. Jones is also known for producing world and folk music, from chart-topping releases with roots reggae founder Claudius Linton ("Roots Master" in 2007 and Kingman & Jonah's "Sign Time" in 2008) to 2019's Wammie-nominated "Steel Strings & Iron Curtains" (The Yehla Collective), the first translations of Czech folk music that inspired the Velvet Revolution.