It's possible, but hardly common, for a rockin' blues/Americana roots singer-songwriter to sound echoes of Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Gram Parsons, Elvis Costello and Paul Westerberg - all of which Jackie Greene does. The hard part, which the young artist seems to pull off so effortlessly, is triggering those echoes without sacrificing an authentic music voice of his own.
The San Francisco-based musician is also a skilled multi-instrumentalist, and has been a virtual one-man band on his own recorded albums. And his live performances have electrified audiences around the world - a fact not lost on concert promoters, who have been featuring Jackie on festival stages as luminous as Bonnaroo, Newport Folk & Newport Jazz, South By Southwest, Mountain Jam, and Rothbury - and have paired him with such legends as B.B. King, Taj Mahal, Buddy Guy, and the Grateful Dead.
Those who have seen the 29-year-old Salinas native as he’s come up through the ranks (notably opening for hotshot guitarist Jonny Lang throughout this past decade) may recall how much his focus had been on acoustic material, especially from his 2002 album Gone Wanderin’. Fans who haven’t seen him since then may be floored by his phenomenal growth as a songwriter and musician. Robert Kinsler, for the Orange County Register - May 18, 2010, A Double Shot of Jackie Greene
Jackie Greene, who had the finest set on Saturday, also performed scaled-back as part of a trio on Sunday. Word must have got out quickly about the power of Greene, because there was the same excitement and capacity-crowd dynamics in the area around the Backporch that greeted Taj Mahal earlier that morning.
Indeed, though Greene performed several songs he had spotlighted the day before, this time the vibe was entirely different. Acoustic renditions of “Gone Wanderin’” and “Uphill Mountain” allowed his voice to shine, while songs such as “Don’t Let the Devil Take Your Mind” in this up-close setting showcased his impressive skills as a songwriter in the tradition of Dylan, Springsteen and Mellencamp.
Robert Kinsler, for the Orange County Register - May 24, 2010, Hits and misses at Day 2 of Doheny Blues Fest
