News Archives: 2014
Jackson Browne Interview – Sunday Night on DIRECTV
October 3, 2014
Hear Jackson’s interview with Sam Jones on Off Camera
The show airs this Sunday night on:
DIRECTV Channel 500
10:00EST and 7:00/10:00 PST
MOJO – Stream Jackson Browne’s New Album!
October 2, 2014
Danny Eccleston – MOJO
JACKSON BROWNE releases Standing In The Breach, his 14th studio album, next week. Recorded in Los Angeles, it foregrounds themes of love, hope and defiance. And lucky old MOJO readers youre getting to hear the whole thing before anyone else
MusicRadar Jackson Browne talks guitars, production and new album Standing In The Breach
October 1, 2014
A sort of jammy, friendly kind of arrangement is at the heart of it.
You notice something very striking about Jackson Browne when listening to his new album, Standing In The Breach. Beyond its myriad, rich and sublime attributes – the dreamy bed of Byrds-like guitars on The Birds Of St. Marks, the spellbinding transposition to song of an unpublished Woody Guthrie letter, along with Browne’s engrossing examinations of human bonds and social-political concerns – there’s the singer’s sweet and soulful voice: It’s as pure and present as it’s ever been, an instrument that is, it would seem, ageless.
Browne laughs in almost an “aw, shucks” manner when I compliment him on his singing and how, unlike so many other veteran performers his age (he turns 66 on October 6), it doesn’t sound as if he’s making any noticeable allowances for changes in his vocal range. “The truth is, I never really liked my singing very much, especially in the beginning,” he says. “Then, at a certain point, I got comfortable with the way I sang because it seemed to work, especially live. I’d realize how not to do stuff that doesn’t work. I’m still settling for a kind of limited palate.”
The singer does admit to “studying” his voice in recent years, even going to see what he calls a “vocal repairman.” “I just said, ‘Fuck it, I’m going to figure out how to make some of the sounds I want,” he says. And on the new record, he even made some changes to how he tracked songs, focusing on one number at a time and sticking with it until he was happy with his vocal performance. “It worked out well, singing one song until I was finished rather than trying to sing them all at once,” he says. “It also allowed me to get a different sound on certain vocal so that they wouldn’t be engulfed by the tracks.’ Each vocal would hold its own.”
Browne recorded Standing In The Breach at his own Santa Monica-based facility, Groove Masters, with a group of players he’s worked with for years – among them, guitarists Greg Leisz, Val McCallum and Mark Goldenberg; drummers Jim Keltner and Mauricio Lewak; bassists Bob Glaub and Kevin McKormick – as well as some notable guests like keyboardist Benmont Tench, drummer Pete Thomas, bassist Tal Wilkenfeld, singer-songwriter Jonathan Wilson and Dawes frontman Taylor Goldsmith.
Browne sat down with MusicRadar recently to talk about recording the new album, the guitars he used, his own style of fingerpicking, politics in music, producing other artists and his recollections of the late Stevie Ray Vaughan. (Jackson Browne’s Standing In The Breach, due out October 7, can be pre-ordered at iTunes, Amazon and at this link.)
Read MoreRolling Stone Germany – Pre-Listening: Jackson Browne – Standing In The Breach
September 30, 2014
Hren sie bei uns vorab und exklusiv das neue Album von Jackson Browne: “Standing In The Breach”.
Am 6. Oktober wird mit “Standing In The Breach ” ein neues Album von Jackson Browne erscheinen. Es ist bereits das vierzehnte Studiowerk in der Karriere des in Heidelberg geborenen Musikers. Im Herbst ist Browne zusamen mit seinen langjhrigen Bandkollegen Val McCallum, Mauricio Lewak, Jeff Young und Bob Glaub auf Tour. (Termine fr Deutschland sind bisher noch nicht angekndigt.)
Read MoreRTVE.es estrena Standing in the breach, el nuevo disco de Jackson Browne
September 30, 2014
El dcimo cuarto disco en estudio del cantautor ver la luz el 7 de octubre. “The birds of St. Marks”, primer single, fue compuesta originalmente en 1967. Jackson Browne presentar el disco en una gira por EE.UU y Reino Unido
RTVE.es estrena este martes Standing in the breach, el dcimo cuarto disco en estudio del cantautor estadounidense Jackson Browne. Standing in the breach, que ver la luz el prximo 7 de octubre, es un trabajo “con rasgos claramente personales y polticos, donde explora en profundidad temas como el amor, la esperanza y desafa de cara algunas de las incertidumbres que acontecen en la vida moderna”, segn la nota de prensa que acompaa al lanzamiento.
El disco, que cuenta con diez temas, se abre con “The birds of St. Marks”, que ha sido elegido como single del lanzamiento. Se trata de una cancin que Browne compuso en los inicios de su carrera, en 1967, despus de regresar a California tras una breve estancia en Nueva York.
Read MoreEsquire Magazine Exclusive: Listen to Jackson Browne’s Yeah Yeah
September 29, 2014
“It’s like going to the pound and rescuing a dog,” Jackson Browne says of his penchant for picking up cheap, unusual guitars on eBay. “You know, ‘Let me make something out of this.'”
Whether it’s his undying love for the guitar or his ability to wring a great song out of thin air, Browne seems as inspired as ever on Standing in the Breach, his new album due out October 7 on Inside Recordings, as well as on his current tour.
The album, which features essentially the same band that Browne has used in his recordings and tours since 1993’s I’m Alive, harks back to the legendary songwriter’s best work, and will be a welcome addition for any fan of his music, especially those who favor his classic, early-’70s recordings. It’s been exactly six years since Browne’s last studio album, Time the Conqueror, though the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has released several live albums in the past decade.
“I’ve been more or less productive at different times in my life, but I had to become more industrious to get this album made,” Browne admits of his latest. “I put as much into the writing of the songs as I ever have with anything I’ve ever done, but when I started it wasn’t in the context of record-making. It was more in the context of living and trying to find an approach to certain topics that I figured were important to me and, I think, important to life.”
Remarkably, Standing in the Breach even holds its own against Browne’s landmark 1974 classic Late for the Sky, boasting the songwriter’s finely observed ruminations on love and the space between people. “Here” and “Yeah Yeah,” premiering exclusively here, are prime examples of the sort of writing that Browne is celebrated for.
Read MoreUSAToday – Hear Jackson Browne’s Standing in the Breach album
September 29, 2014
Standing in the Breach, the new Jackson Browne album premiering at USA TODAY (out Oct. 7), finds the singer/songwriter in a distressed but ultimately hopeful frame of mind.
Take the key line in If I Could Be Anywhere: “If I could be anywhere right now, I would want to be here.” It’s a lyric, and a delivery, worthy of Browne’s most sentimental love songs, but it’s not used that way. Except that it kind of is.
“It is a love song a love song to the oceans, the environment, to future generations,” Browne says. “It’s the idea that there’s a challenge that can only be met while we’re here, both in the sense of being present and also that we’re here at this moment in time. . . .”
Read MoreJeff Bridges, Jessie Bridges And David Crosby Will Join Jackson Browne And Friends At The Benefit For Sanctuary Centers At The Arlington Theatre In Santa Barbara On October 25
September 27, 2014
On October 25th at the Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara, Jackson Browne and friends, including Jeff Bridges, Jessie Bridges and David Crosby will host a special benefit for the Sanctuary Centers of Santa Barbara, the renowned non-profit provider of care for adults living with mental illness in the area. The evening will feature Jackson Browne along with members of his band and special guests. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at all Ticketmaster outlets including the Arlington Theatre. To charge by phone please call 800-745-3000 or 805-963-4408. To order online visit www.ticketmaster.com
Sanctuary Centers of Santa Barbara is the leading community-based nonprofit in Santa Barbara that serves adults living with mental illness. They offer unique comprehensive individualized programs including: residential, outpatient, low-income housing, drug and alcohol therapy and vocational and educational training. Their continuum of care approach has resulted in long-term remission from severe and disabling psychiatric symptoms since 1976. Sanctuary Centers is proud to report that they have reduced the rate of mental health hospitalizations of their clients by 90% over the last 15 years and incredibly have not had a single incident of suicide among residential clients. Other key measures include an 85% sobriety rate of their drug and alcohol therapy clients over the last 8 years and cutting smoking by more than half in the past year from a high of 62% to 33%.Jackson Browne is currently on tour with his band in support of his new studio album Standing In The Breach, to be released on October 7.For more information on Sanctuary Centers visit www.sanctuarycenters.org
Read MoreLos Angeles Times – Jackson Browne, an old pro with a fresh perspective
September 20, 2014
On Oct. 7 Jackson Browne will release a strong new studio album called ‘Standing in the Breach’
On a recent evening at a North Hollywood rehearsal studio, Jackson Browne was leading his band through his song “About My Imagination” when he raised his hand to halt the musicians. The ensemble included some new members, and though Browne had loved the energy they’d brought to the tune earlier in the practice (during their initial crack at it), now the veteran singer-songwriter feared the freshness had worn off. The music, he said to the players as he peered over his eyeglasses, was beginning to feel too familiar.
“I want to sidestep the pitfall of getting involved in doing something we’ve done before,” he told them.
Nobody’s getting paid much anymore, so people are just getting together for the love of it. – Jackson Browne
That sentiment goes some way toward capturing Browne’s broader outlook, more than 40 years after he established a foothold in the record business, first with songs he wrote or co-wrote for acts such as Nico (“These Days”) and the Eagles (“Take It Easy”), then as a solo artist in Los Angeles alongside James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt. The 65-year-old peppers his concerts like those making up the fall tour he was preparing for this month with the hits that turned him into a soft-rock superstar: “Doctor My Eyes,” “The Pretender,” “Running on Empty.”
But Browne is still creating.
On Oct. 7 he’ll release a strong new studio album called “Standing in the Breach,” with sensitive yet crafty meditations on romance, mortality and what he views as the greed and apathy threatening the environment and the lives of impoverished people in places like Haiti, whose devastating 2010 earthquake served as the basis for the disc’s moving title track. . .
Read MoreJackson Browne at The Kennedy Center
September 17, 2014
by Keith Greene
Performing before a sold-out crowd in the acoustically perfect Concert Hall at the Kennedy Center, Jackson Browne and his crackerjack band led the aging hipster audience through a mix of his older favorites along with several songs from his new album – Standing in the Breach – due to be released on October 7th. It will be his 14th studio album, and first since 2008. Mixing in humorous stories and personal recollections, Browne performed a 17-song two-set performance, before The Kennedy Center’s dreaded 10:00 p.m. Sunday night curfew pulled him off the stage without allowing for an encore. Nonetheless, the sellout crowd left thrilled with being able to catch the first show of Browne’s full-band tour which runs through November 24, 2014 at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Browne recently concluded a solo tour on August 23rd.
Approaching his 66th birthday in October, Browne still looks as handsome as ever, perhaps a bit older looking but certainly wiser, with his shoulder length full head of dark hair the envy of every middle-aged male in the audience. His thin frame and charming banter had every woman in the audience remember why they fell in love – if not lust – with him in the 70s and surely re-kindled some of those feelings. Dressed in a pair of skinny jeans and a dark gray untucked shirt, Browne was clearly thrilled being at The Kennedy Center, at one point joking he was not being HONORED but simply performing a show.
Browne’s terrific band included longtime mates Val McCallum (son of David McCallum and Jill Ireland, with definite facial resemblance to his dad) on guitar); Mauricio Lewak on drums; Jeff Young (on keyboards and backing vocals), and the incredible Bob Glaub (Browne reminded the crowd that it was pronounced gl-OW-b and not GLOB) on bass. Browne also joked about the pronunciation of his own name, remarking that the “e” was silent but if audience members insisted on saying it, he preferred Brown-AY to Brown-EE. For this tour, he has added acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Greg Leisz on guitar, lap steel, and pedal steel and backup singer Shavonne Stewart.
While the entire band was impressive, Glaub and Lewak deserve particular mention for “providing the bottom” to the music. Their musical skills were superb and kept the band grounded throughout the night.
The eight-song first set featured a combinations of songs from the new album along with two of his hits from days gone by and a Woody Guthrie cover he performed at The Kennedy Center last year in honor of the anniversary of the late Guthrie’s 100th date of birth. Browne alternated between several acoustic and electric guitars and even took a turn at the piano during the set.
Opening with the powerhouse “The Barricades of Heaven” co-written with Lewak and Young, Browne immediately set the stage that this was to be a night of beautiful music with beautiful lyrics. Three new songs from the new album followed, including “The Long Way Around,” with harmonies added by Stewart and “Leaving Winslow,” a song Browne described as being about hobos and hopping a rattling freight train to follow one’s dreams. The stellar guitar playing of Leisz and McCallum shone through to pair with Brownes pinpoint lyricism.
Next up was “Shaky Town,” a song Browne described as composed by his former guitarist Danny Kortchmar. The song was clearly written as a trucker road-tripper, with reference to “a Big 10-4.” Browne bragged that his trucking crew has been with him for more than forty years, and he clearly performed this song as thanks to his crew. Browne then pulled out 1993’s “I’m Alive” which he sang beautifully with Young.
One of Browne’s fan favorites – “These Days” followed, with the lights – beautiful all night long – taking on a softer tint. The crowd sang along to the beautifully sad and reflective lyrics, which included “These days I seem to think a lot about the things that I forgot to do” and “Now if I seem to be afraid to live the life I have made in song. Well it’s just that I’ve been losing so long.”
The first set closed with “You Know the Night,” the same song Browne performed at Woody Guthrie’s birthday party last year at the Kennedy Center. The song, about the night Guthrie met his wife, reminded the audience of Guthrie’s songwriting brilliance, which Browne comes close to matching.
Following a twenty-five minute intermission, Browne kicked off his nine-song second set with one of his biggest hits – “Rock Me on the Water” – with gorgeous harmonies provided by Young and Stewart. The new “Which Side,” about the Occupy movement followed and featured a stunning pedal steel guitar solo by Leisz. The title cut to the new album followed, dedicated to the people of Haiti and their resilience following the destructive earthquake and abject poverty. He was greeted with his first standing ovation of the evening and was genuinely moved by the audience’s reaction to a song most had never heard.
“Looking East,” the rocking title cut from Browne’s 11th album followed, with Leisz and McCallum trading hot guitar licks. Browne lowered the pace with the beautiful new “If I Could Be Anywhere,” a moving song about the ocean. The magnificent “Birds of St. Marks,” the opening cut on the new album though a song written when Browne was 18, followed. Written as a tribute to The Byrds, one could easily hear McCallum channeling Roger McGuinn on guitar. Browne announced that this “concluded my new songs” and thanked the audience for their warm support through the years. The audience responded with a huge ovation.
Browne fired up the crowd with the always popular “Running on Empty” with perfect harmonies from Stewart and Young, which was greeted with another standing ovation. And then, due to time constraints, the crowd was asked to make a decision – “Doctor My Eyes or Take It Easy?” While most of the audience pleaded for both, Browne insisted on a decision and “Take It Easy” made so popular by his L.A. buddies in the Eagles was the winner. The gorgeous version crossfaded into the beautiful “Our Lady of the Well” as it does on the stellar 1973 “For Everyman” album.
Browne again received a standing ovation and warmly thanked the joyous audience as the house lights came up. While some may have been left yearning for some of his bigger hits such as “The Pretender,” “Fountain of Sorrow” and the aforementioned “Doctor My Eyes,” no one left disappointed. Browne’s voice remains a beautiful instrument and his lyricism is in top form on the new album. Rush over to Amazon or iTunes to buy it!
Running Time: Two hours and 20 minutes, with one 25 minute intermission.
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