It’s Turntable Tuesday because life is too short not to listen to great music! This week it’s all about the newest release from Jackson Browne. This week I want to cover this album and share a story or two from my decades of listening to this artist and from my Jackson Browne live concert experiences through the decades.
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Jackson Browne. The singer-songwriter I grew older with from a young age. We started our parallel lives in the 1970’s as I listened to his hit songs on FM radio and attended live concerts. There were Jackson’s vinyl records that went way up the charts and played over and over on the FM radio. There were those high school and college parties that happened where I have flashbacks to moments where I can visualize an image and hear a Jackson Browne song. The ones that come to mind are “The Pretender” and Here Come Those Tears Again” as I attended a party during high school in Philadelphia, Mississippi. Thanks to Debbie who was the host of that party and is a high school alumni friend of mine for picking those tunes on a Summer evening so long ago. Soon I had all of the Jackson Browne albums in my collection. My first recollection of Jackson Browne was the song “Doctor My Eyes” playing on WZZQ FM in Jackson Mississippi right behind Alice Cooper singing “Only Women Bleed.” Then came the album in 1977 called “Running on Empty” and the tour. I was there. I remember seeing the show from that tour in Jackson, Mississippi and it was a great concert. We wore that album out during my freshman year of college. The concert was very similar to the live album. There were a few previous hits mixed in but that album really set a line in the sand of time for me. I am likely to say I can recite all of the lyrics to every track on that album. As I have said before I will never forget hearing David Lindley sing “Stay” during that show. https://www.davidlindley.com/ The times I saw Rosemary Butler on tour were amazing as well. She sounds so good with Jackson Browne. https://rosemarybutler.com/
A story I have never written down is one I have from spending three different nights talking to J.D. Souther after his solo shows. J.D. and I hit it off talking on another passion we share called Formula One Racing but that story is for another time. Remind me to tell you the story about Paul Newman some time. For those who don’t know about J.D. I call him the fifth Eagle. He wrote such cool songs as “Heartache Tonight,” “Victim of Love,” and “Best of My Love” to name a few which of course the Eagles ran up the charts over the years. J.D. lived with Glenn Frey of the Eagles in the early days in an apartment adjacent to Jackson Browne. J.D. smiled when I asked him about that time and one thing that sticks in my memory was how he said Jackson would practice on guitar for hours. The apartments were so close with thin walls that J.D. new every song of Jackson’s at that time to the point of going crazy. The way he told the story was funny because you can imagine that if you listen to any song by anyone too many times it will get to you after a while.
The Running on Empty Tour 
Jackson is at home on the piano 
Jackson and Val on stage at the DPAC 
Val McCallum the co-writer with Jackson Browne of “My Cleveland Heart” 
From the 2021 album gate fold
“Downhill From Everywhere” is Jackson Browne’s 15th studio album. I have to say I have enjoyed breaking this one in listening to the four sides of vinyl. As a note I love the bass on this album. It sounds different on vinyl than the lossless tracks in my studio and that is ok. I enjoy listening to anything that has high fidelity when you have a crew like the one that surrounds Jackson Browne.
This album was recently released on July 23rd and there are a total of 10 new tracks. I am going to talk through the tracks one by one on my companion podcast episode this week and talk all about the various artists that worked on the project. The musicians and vocals are top-shelf and the production is first class. Not only do you have the likes of one of my favorite drummers on this artist list aka Russ Kunkel you also have his son Nate Kunkel listed on the production credits. Val McCallum is sitting in on several of the tracks and as I have said before I love to watch Val and Jackson play together as they are almost telepathic when they play. Val is the co-writer with Jackson on the song “My Cleveland Heart” which is my favorite track on the album followed closely by “The Dreamer.” I don’t want to leave out any of the tracks so I will step through them all on the podcast. I will tell you what I know about how this package is woven together as all good music projects have a story to tell. This new album is a fine one that comes as the first Jackson Browne album reaches into the fifth decade. I am glad we are still here to enjoy this fine work!
A few album notes:
Label: Inside Recordings
Produced by Jackson Browne
Recorded and Mixed by Kevin Smith
“A Human Touch” – Recorded and Mixed by Ryan Freeland
“Minutes To Downtown” – Recorded by Nate Kunkel
“Downhill From Everywhere,” “A Little Soon To Say,” and “My Cleveland Heart” – Recorded by Paul Dieter
Recorded at Groove Masters, Santa Monica, CA
Mastered by Gavin Lurssen and Rueben Cohen at Lurssen Mastering, Burbank, CA
Vinyl Mastered by Jeff Powell at Take Out Vinyl, Memphis, TN
The Artists
Jackson Browne who carries the majority of vocals along with piano, acoustic and electric guitars and vihuela, is complimented by the talents of Val McCallum on vocals, electric, acoustic, and tenor guitars, Greg Leisz on acoustic and electric guitars and lap and pedal steel, Mark Goldenberg on electric guitar, Waddy Wachtel on electric guitar, Bob Glaub on bass, Pete Thomas on drums, Mauricio Lewak on drums, Russ Kunkel on drums, Jason Crosby on piano, Jeff Young on Hammond organ, Jay Bellerose on drums, Jennifer Condos on bass, Patrick Warren on keyboards, Raul Rodriguez on a palmas, and vocals by Chavonne Stewart, Aletha Mills, Leslie Mendelson, and DeAnte Duckett.
That’s all for this album. I’ll talk with you on the companion podcast.
Until next time I’ll see you, down the road.