On The Verge

Jackie Greene (Relix Revisited)

This week, we step back to the August 2006 issue of Relix to revisit our On The Verge with Jackie Greene…

Sacramento, CA
Boy Wonder
www.jackiegreene.com

It’s no wonder Jackie Greene’s songs sound steeped in the classics: That’s exactly where his musical career began—thumbing through his parents’ forgotten vinyl collections. Starting with The Genius of Ray Charles, the now-25-year-old Greene began absorbing all the best of the ‘60s and ‘70s (from Zeppelin to Lightnin’ Hopkins).

Without feeling dusty and dated, American Myth, his second disc for Verve Forecast, at times sounds like the unearthing of long-lost tracks from the likes of CCR and Van Morrison—really. It finds him dancing on the edge of much bigger, broader recognition. Produced by Steve Berlin of Los Lobos (with whom Greene has toured), Myth, he says, is his portrait of America, what it’s like to be an American, living in this country today. “For me,” he says, “music is magic. It’s a legitimate form of sorcery.”