Bill Jackson – 1965
So, this will be an interesting prospect since it’ll step back into a more glorified & exciting era. When dungarees became blue jeans, white sneakers replaced two-toned saddle shoes, plain white t-shirts went tie-dyed & jugs of red table wine became quarts of Ripple & Night Train until the availability of that dreadful apple wine even Jack Kerouac wouldn’t touch.
But it really was the music that drove the soul from the 50s juvenile delinquents of West Side Story’s hoodlums to the street urchins of Haight-Ashbury, Greenwich Village & Vancouver’s Hastings Street. What a wild ride & Bill Jackson captures the essence in his 1965 dreamscape.
He sings about the year when the revolutionary seeds were planted by Bob Dylan, the Stones, the Beatles, the folk-rock tonality of The Byrds, the Bakersfield & Nashville new country & Motown’s soul music. It started to morph from the 50s pop into R&R & shake-up radio. Yes, Elvis & Chuck Berry, Little Richard & Jerry Lee Lewis were there before but this is when the music began to shape into a culture of its own. The 50s hipsters & Beat Generation stalwarts were leaving & the hippies would soon follow.
The 11 cuts that comprise 1965 (Released Oct 2023–Wayside Records) were produced by Kerryn Tolhurst (mandolin/electric guitar/Resophonic guitar/lap steel/keys/bgv). It’s a nostalgic recollection without covering old songs. It peels back the skin of a 60s onion on topics far-reaching as karma, love, wars, promises, brotherhood, cold beds, lost loves, getting older, traveling & trying to be after all that — a modicum of cool. You always had to be cool.
To those unfamiliar with Mr. Jackson, he will come across as a generous well-tuned Tom Petty with a splash of Phil Ochs. Bill has a more folky ideal, the melodies are attractive & they come from that hive. Case in point, “Precious Cargo,” with its unlikely Tom Petty with a banjo showcase. Co-written with Kerryn Tolhurst & Nashville veteran artist Mac Gayden (“Everlasting Love”) it’s a jewel. More traditional is the Ramblin’ Jack Elliott-Phil Ochs grassroots folk shine of “My Ramblin’ Is Through” & the superb “Who Wins Wars.”
But the end result is nostalgia from a polished perspective & Bill Jackson achieves it.
Highlights – “Precious Cargo,” “My Ramblin’ Is Through,” “A Diamond Always Shines,” “Hong Kong,” “Hell or Highwater,” “Who Wins Wars” & “She Does It All With Her Eyes.”
Musicians – Bill (vocals/acoustic & nylon string guitar/harmonica/bgv), Procol Harum veteran Chris Copping (Hammond organ), Ruth Hazelton (banjo), James Gillard, Stephen Hadley & John Bois (bass/upright bass), Garrett Costigan (pedal steel), Ken Howard (Rhodes piano), Andrew Swann & Scotty Martin (drums/percussion/bgv), Terry Dean (12 string guitar) with Simon Bruce, John Flanagan, Rory Boast & Robert Price (bgv).
B&W image courtesy of Bandcamp. CD & music samples @ https://billjackson.bandcamp.com/album/1965
