aka The Skinny Singers

Although he’s considered a hometown boy, because he grew up in Cameron Park, Jackie Greene has achieved national status at 26 years old with a big time recording contract. He played a sit down acoustic set with his friend Tim Bluhm, of Mother Hips, at the Crystal Bay last night.

For someone so young he has amazing depth. The quality and variety of his songwriting is impressive. Lyrics, guitar, harmonica all reminiscent of Dylan, but he sings a hell of a lot better.

Lyrics from "So Hard to Find My Way":
you can say what you want
you can do what you do
but sometimes some things are chosen for you
the life that you want and the life that you’ve been given
are sometimes not even the life you’ve been living

He must have been in a good mood, because he was actually engaging in banter with the audience. After seeing him seven times, I know that he usually spends his time looking down at the floor while he tunes his guitar between songs. In this area Tim Bluhm took up very well. He’s a good singer, a good guitarist, and has a comfortable stage presence. Especially enjoyed it when he sang "Seventh Son." But the audience became electrified when Jackie played.

I admit that I appreciate the festival style seating, with chairs on the whole floor up to the stage. Basically no dancing allowed. That means people focus in on the artists and music. Because they sold most of the seated tickets before we got ours, we had to spring for a booth. A real luxury. But I ended up in the front row, with my camera. Someone gave me a seat. I have a friend who addresses my mail to Cathy “front and center” Mills.

I apologize for the quality of the photos. One, he’s really hard to take a picture of because his facial expression is definitely not photogenic. And two, this large purple light that was shining on him all night. I doctored the hue, tint, and temperature in Photoshop, because the bright violet was not at all flattering.

I don’t buy many CD’s any more since I have more than I could ever listen to, but I bought American Myth and I think it will be one I listen to often.