Local Jack can be identified from several locks away, his sage like expressions and thick mane of black hair dancing above his head like a shadowy flame. "I got the blues tonight" he announces before proceeding to share with you the coarse darkness he has methodically sculpted into lyrical testimony. And when you listen to his soul-driving renditions of Delta blues classics like "Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone" and "Death Letter," you can understand how Jack felt when his first experience with a Robert Johnson recording left him speechless.
Jack's voice is softly intense, melancholic, echoing the graceful desperation of the blues experience. His slide playing is bright, rhythmically charged like a boxer's punch. His fret work bears the same kind of necessity which made the originals cling to their guitars with addictive frenzy and religious dedication.
Jack did not discover his affinity to this music right away , but like many searching musicians, passed through various musical styles and traditions, including rockabilly, electric blues, and Indian classical (Jack has studied tabla), before arriving in his musical homeland. He now identifies his primary influences as Robert Johnson, Son House, Johnny Shines, John Hammond, and his father's own musical influence. The honesty of his desire for this music is manifest in his performances of "Stop Breakin' Down Blues," "Terraplane Blues," and "If I had Possession Over Judgement Day." The overall expressive effect is pensive, raw, delicate but pressurized.
Being an authentic witness to this spiritual process first discovered by Robert Johnson and Johnny Shines, Local Jack's performances are a good way to experience the real stuff. Being as it were, a local, he evidences the universal urgency of the blues, reenacting and rediscovering a possibility for listening (to ourselves) that we'd all do well to consider.
-Justin Vood Good
Check out the artist's website:
http://www.localjack.com
Track List:
1. Death Letter
2. Travellin' Riverside Blues
3. Two Trains Runnin'
4. Empire State Express
5. Terraplane Blues
6. Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone
7. If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day
8. Texas Tornado
9. Milkcow's Calf Blues
10. Stop Breakin' Down Blues
11. Bumble Bee Blues
12. 30 Days in Jail
13. Come On in My Kitchen
Suggested CDs:Other Genres:
Jack's voice is softly intense, melancholic, echoing the graceful desperation of the blues experience. His slide playing is bright, rhythmically charged like a boxer's punch. His fret work bears the same kind of necessity which made the originals cling to their guitars with addictive frenzy and religious dedication.
Jack did not discover his affinity to this music right away , but like many searching musicians, passed through various musical styles and traditions, including rockabilly, electric blues, and Indian classical (Jack has studied tabla), before arriving in his musical homeland. He now identifies his primary influences as Robert Johnson, Son House, Johnny Shines, John Hammond, and his father's own musical influence. The honesty of his desire for this music is manifest in his performances of "Stop Breakin' Down Blues," "Terraplane Blues," and "If I had Possession Over Judgement Day." The overall expressive effect is pensive, raw, delicate but pressurized.
Being an authentic witness to this spiritual process first discovered by Robert Johnson and Johnny Shines, Local Jack's performances are a good way to experience the real stuff. Being as it were, a local, he evidences the universal urgency of the blues, reenacting and rediscovering a possibility for listening (to ourselves) that we'd all do well to consider.
-Justin Vood Good
Check out the artist's website:
http://www.localjack.com
Track List:
1. Death Letter
2. Travellin' Riverside Blues
3. Two Trains Runnin'
4. Empire State Express
5. Terraplane Blues
6. Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone
7. If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day
8. Texas Tornado
9. Milkcow's Calf Blues
10. Stop Breakin' Down Blues
11. Bumble Bee Blues
12. 30 Days in Jail
13. Come On in My Kitchen
Suggested CDs:Other Genres:
- BLUES: Acoustic Blues
- BLUES: Delta Style
- TYPE: ACOUSTIC