Jackie Greene.
Jackie Greene began his career in his mid-teens working the bar and open mic circuit in and around his hometown of Sacramento. Since then, he has recorded seven albums and two EP’s, released a DVD, and published a book of lyrics. Upon witnessing his performance at Bonnaroo, Jon Pareles of The New York Times had this to say about the singer, songwriter, bandleader, multi-instrumentalist, “Jackie Greene could be the Prince of Americana. That's capital P, and not because Mr. Greene favors the color purple but for some musical parallels.”
Jackie released his acoustic-laced breakthrough, Gone Wonderin’ in 2002, and followed it with two more albums, Rusty Nails and Sweet Somewhere Bound, on indie label Dig Records. In 2005, he contributed to the Oscar-winning Brokeback Mountain soundtrack, and a year later he issued his critically acclaimed Verve debut, American Myth, which he co-produced with Los Lobos’ Steve Berlin.
Greene’s career took an unexpected turn that year when Phil Lesh name-dropped him in an interview tied to Bonnaroo. They started talking and, a year later, Greene joined Phil & Friends, thrusting him in front of a new audience of open-minded music listeners and fastidious Deadheads.
In 2008, Greene made the move from Verve to Savoy and released Giving Up The Ghost, of which American Songwriter wrote, “Greene adroitly maneuvers the crannies of blues, folk, rock and soul with an impressive songwriting toolbox that uses a wide palette to express his simple, but not simplistic, tales.”
Small Tempest, an EP of originals, quickly followed Giving Up The Ghost. In 2010, he dropped another EP of Grateful Dead covers, and in the same year his solo and Deadhead worlds converged on the epic Till the Light Comes. Relix Magazine: “His latest album finds the maturing singer/songwriter offering a sojourn into his own psyche where the waters of human suffering prove difficult to navigate…weighty insights are balanced alongside fist-pumping rock-revelries (“Spooky Tina,” “Medicine”) so jubilant they create an album whose sum remains uplifting and accessible. Half pop, half poetic— and all good.”
In 2013, Jackie was asked to join The Black Crowes for their epic worldwide tour. It was through his work with Lesh that Greene entered the Crowes’ orbit as the bassist regularly brought singer Chris Robinson and keyboardist Adam MacDougall into the PL&F fold. Greene drifted deeper into the Dead world when his friendship with Robinson and Bob Weir resulted in a new trio. And, by chance, he also joined Trigger Hippy, a supergroup that features Joan Osborne and Crowes drummer Steve Gorman. When Luther Dickinson was unavailable to tour with the reformed Crowes, Greene was a natural choice.
2015 will be a year of getting back to his own music. A new single will be released in April for Record Store Day with a new album planned for the summer on Yep Roc.