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Jackson Browne

Jackson Browne has been both an introspective, cerebral songwriter and a politically attuned voice of conscience. He emerged in the early Seventies as a soul-baring young folksinger whose songs dealt with riddles of romance and existence. In his middle period he became a more extroverted rock and roller. Later work grew more topical in nature as Browne sang of political and social realities within and beyond our borders. “In a way, I don’t choose what I write about - my subjects kind of choose me,” this vanguard singer/songwriter explained in 1993. “It’s a healing thing, a way of confronting what’s important in my life at the time.”

Though he was born on a German army base, Browne has lived in Southern California virtually all his life. He was only 23 when he released the auspicious debut album, Jackson Browne (Saturate Before Using). Yet he’d been making waves as a songwriter for seven years. As an Orange County high- schooler, he fell in with a folksinging clique that included Tim Buckley, Steve Noonan and Greg Copeland. In 1967 he ventured to New York, brushing against Andy Warhol’s scene and befriending Leonard Cohen and Lou Reed. A publishing deal with Elektra Records led to demo recordings of 30 original songs. During this period, other performers discovered his material. Browne seemed far wiser than his years on such early gems as “These Days” and “Shadow Dream Song,” which were recorded by Tom Rush, Nico, Gregg Allman and others.

Browne signed with David Geffen’s Asylum label in 1971. In fact, Geffen’s desire to show Browne’s talent to the world is a major reason he launched Asylum, which would become home to the Eagles, Joni Mitchell, Tom Waits and others. Browne’s first three albums - Saturate Before Using (1972), For Everyman (1973) and Late for the Sky (1974) - are confessional singer-songwriter classics. From the outset he paid careful attention to the melding of words and music. Browne wasn’t a folk purist, and songs like “Doctor My Eyes” - his first single and a Top Ten hit - rocked out in a rolling, Southern California way. Yet his early lyrics took a more genteel, eloquent and even courtly approach than the pop norm. “It was my literary period,” Browne told Rolling Stone. “Long-form rambling songs in iambic pentameter with the run-on philosophical attitude. I was searching bleary-eyed for God in the crowds.” Saturate Before Using was rife with thoughtful, lilting classics, including “Rock Me on the Water” and “Jamaica Say You Will.”

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10
Album Review

Jackson Browne: Jackson Browne (2023 Remaster)

Read "Jackson Browne (2023 Remaster)" reviewed by Doug Collette


It was only a matter of time until Jackson Browne turned his attention to an archival endeavor devoted to his self-titled debut album. Having plumbed the vault for his masterwork, Late For The Sky (Inside Recordings, 2014), then a re-release of his most commercially-successful record, Running On Empty (Inside Recordings, 2019) five years later, he may have been saving what he considers his best for last (unless and until he turns his attention to his brilliant sophomore outing For Everyman ...

1
Album Review

Jackson Browne: Running On Empty: 2019 Remaster

Read "Running On Empty: 2019 Remaster" reviewed by Doug Collette


There is no other album quite like Running On Empty in Jackson Browne's discography. But then, there may be no other album comparable in contemporary rock: it is an absolutely unflinching portrait of an artist looking for a connection to the muse and only fleetingly establishing one. In a sense, this 1977 album resides at the opposite end of the creative spectrum from the masterwork Late For The Sky (Asylum,1974) wherein this archetypal singer/songwriter captured an early peak of excellence ...

1
Live Review

Jackson Brown at Walmart Arkansas Music Amphitheater

Read "Jackson Brown at Walmart Arkansas Music Amphitheater" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Jackson Browne Walmart Arkansas Music Amphitheater Cox Concert Series Rogers, Arkansas Saturday, October 17, 2015 I love nostalgia. It is the romance in my thought and it indeed had its way with me seeing Jackson Browne. The problem with nostalgia is it will never be 1974 again and I will never hear Late for the Sky for the first time again. Nevertheless, the diptych of “For a Dancer" and “Fountain of Sorrow" was ...

286
Album Review

Jackson Browne / David Lindley: Love Is Strange

Read "Love Is Strange" reviewed by Doug Collette


Jackson Browne and David Lindley's Love Is Strange isn't merely a clever reworking of familiar material. On the contrary, it is brilliantly conceived and executed reinterpretation of songs in which the principals and their comrades display as much respect for each other as musicians as they do the extraordinary compositions themselves.

Recorded over five nights of concerts in Spain during March of 2006, this double-CD reunites Browne and Lindley, who collaborated as band mates during most of the seventies and ...

180
Live Review

Jackson Browne at The Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, Vermont

Read "Jackson Browne at The Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, Vermont" reviewed by Doug Collette


Jackson Browne Shelburne Museum Shelburne, Vermont July 14th, 2009

Jackson Browne should have opened his two-set performance with “I'm Alive," closed it with “Running On Empty," and encored with the much-requested “Redneck Friend." In so doing he'd have effectively avoided the pedestrian moments early in the first set ("Boulevard," “Tender is the Night") and framed his entire show in such a way as to highlight the mix of new and old material.

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160

Recording

Deep Cuts: Jackson Browne "Here Come Those Tears Again" (1975)

Deep Cuts: Jackson Browne "Here Come Those Tears Again" (1975)

Source: Something Else!

By PicoRock stars whose dad jammed with Django Reinhardt when said rock star was an infant, and dated Nico not long after after high school deserve my eternal respect and admiration, but as far as I know, only Jackson Browne falls into that category. It was only years later when he begun to make his own records and those first three (Jackson Browne, For Everyman and Late For The Sky) are generally regarded as his best. But I ...

129

Recording

Susan Cowsill's New CD Features Jackson Browne, the Cowsills, Waddy Wachtel and Vicki Peterson

Susan Cowsill's New CD Features Jackson Browne, the Cowsills, Waddy Wachtel and Vicki Peterson

Source: conqueroo

Special guests include Jackson Browne, The Cowsills (Bob, Paul and John), Vicki Peterson (Bangles/Continental Drifters) and session ace Waddy Wachtel

NEW ORLEANS, La. -- Lighthouse, Susan Cowsill's second solo album, once again embodies the timeless qualities of heart, soul and craft that are already known to anyone familiar with Cowsill's solo debut Just Believe It. The new album is slated for May 18, 2010 release on Threadhead Records.

Susan first entered the pop-culture spotlight at the age of eight, as ...

338

Performance / Tour

Greek Theatre, Gibson Amphitheatre Announce Upcoming Lineups

Greek Theatre, Gibson Amphitheatre Announce Upcoming Lineups

Source: All About Jazz

The Gibson will have several Latin music acts, including Gilberto Santa Rosa, Pepe Aguilar and Vicente Fernandez. Sugarland, the Go-Go's and Norah Jones will play the Greek. System of a Down's Serj Tankian, Spanish tenor Jose Carreras, L.A. rockers 30 Seconds to Mars, kid-friendly group the Wiggles and the MTV Movie Awards are among the highlights of the 2010 subscription concert series being announced jointly Friday by the Greek Theatre and Gibson Amphitheatre. Offerings include many veterans making return visits ...

125

Music Industry

Jackson Browne, Republicans Settle Copyright Case

Jackson Browne, Republicans Settle Copyright Case

Source: Billboard Magazine

Jackson Browne is hopeful that the protection of music copyrights will be bolstered by the settlement of his lawsuit against U.S. Sen. John McCain and the Republican Party over unauthorized use of one of his songs in the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign. Last August Browne sued McCain, the Ohio Republican Party and the Republican National Committee for copyright infringement, false endorsement and violating his right of publicity after his 1977 hit “Running On Empty" was used without permission in a ...

213

Video / DVD

Sun Spin: Jackson Browne

Sun Spin: Jackson Browne

Source: JamBase

CLASSIC ALBUM SPOTLIGHT RETURNS WITH A TOOL FOR LIVING THROUGH TOUGH TIMES

Now there's a world of illusion and fantasy In the place where the real world belongs Still I look for the beauty in songs To fill my head and lead me on

Some albums slip past our defenses, touching places we might rather have left alone, tender spots that never quite scab over. While perhaps not always consciously welcome, it is ...

146

Technology

Infringement Case Against McCain Advances

Infringement Case Against McCain Advances

Source: All About Jazz

John McCain says he was a puppet for the Republican National Committee and therefore should not be held accountable for a presidential campaign commercial that used the popular song “Running on Empty" by Jackson Browne without permission.

But the Los Angeles federal judge presiding over the copyright- infringement case was not buying it. The judge refused late Friday to remove the Arizona senator from the lawsuit in which he and the Republican National Committee are accused of violating the rights ...

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Performance / Tour

Jackson Browne in Santa Monica Tonight

Jackson Browne in Santa Monica Tonight

Source: All About Jazz

Jackson Browne headlines weekend's benefit for hurricane relief includes sets by Bonnie Raitt, Joan Baez and Ry Cooder at the Santa Monica Civic TONIGHT

Some had long since figured Jackson Browne's days of folk-pop rabble-rousing in the political sphere were over. But after his noisy kerfuffle with Sen. John McCain (when the latter used his song “Running on Empty" during his presidential campaign), it may be time for another look at Browne's ruminative new record, Time the Conqueror.

Santa Monica ...

97

Music Industry

John McCain Fights Back vs. Jackson Browne

John McCain Fights Back vs. Jackson Browne

Source: All About Jazz

'Running on Empty'Senator seeks damages, claims singer's lawsuit chilled free speech.

John McCain may have lost the presidential election to Barack Obama, but his campaign seems absolutely determined not to lose to Jackson Browne. The singer/songwriter sued McCain in August after the Republican candidate for the highest office in the land used his song, Running on Empty, in a campaign commercial that targeted Obamas energy plan. At the time, many didnt take the legal threat very seriously, but based on ...

162

TV / Film

Jackson Browne Sues McCain over 'Running on Empty' Ad

Jackson Browne Sues McCain over 'Running on Empty' Ad

Source: All About Jazz

LOS ANGELES -- Singer-songwriter Jackson Browne filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against Sen. John McCain and the Republican National Committee for using Browne's 1977 song “Running on Empty" in a television ad. “Running on Empty," which is one of Browne's signature tunes, was used in a political advertisement criticizing presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama for his suggestion that Americans could save money on gasoline by properly inflating their cars' tires, said Lawrence Iser, Browne's attorney. The lawsuit, filed ...

Gary Porter
vocals
Francis Jocky
piano and vocals

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Concerts

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Jackson Browne (2023...

Inside Recordings
2023

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Running On Empty:...

Inside Recordings
2019

buy

Love Is Strange

Inside Recordings
2010

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Videos

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