Looking Into You: A Jackson Browne Tribute

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Jackson Browne is among my most favorite musicians and a tribute album was just released with a wide array of songs spanning several years. The likes of Bonnie Raitt, Lyle Lovett, Don Henley and Bruce Springsteen take on some of Jackson's tunes with some great results and some...interesting results. I'm sure we have some Browne fans on the board so I thought this might be of interest. You can buy on iTunes or stream the whole album for free here: http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/...bute-looking-into-you-album-premiere/6850559/

Highlights for me:

Bob Schneider's "Running On Empty" is really good, different take for sure but for such an overplayed song it's nice to hear it differently.
The Indigo Girls on "Fountain of Sorrow"
I like the Austin semi-country take on "For Everyman" by Jimmy LaFave, great acoustic guitar work
Ben Harper was a great choice for "Jamaica Say You Will"
"Rock Me On The Water" by Keb 'Mo is a nice easy take on it, great work by backup vocalists
I think Bruce Hornsby's dulcimer take on "I'm Alive" will grow on me

The whiffs:

Lucinda Williams on "The Pretender" Hurts my ears. What happened here?
Felt "Late For The Sky" by Joan Osborne could've been a lot better and more powerful

Your thoughts?
 
Lake, I recently heard Keb' 'Mo sing "Rock Me On the Water", played on WMVY from Martha's Vineyard . It was beautiful.
 
I almost gave away my WMVY Blue Lobster hat this weekend, anticipating that I could buy another. Phew. T-shirts yes, hats no.
 
Rosemary,

The WMVY shop seems to have changed from a hat/bag/mug/sticker/shirt/whatever shop to a t-shirt shop with a few bags. I'm hoping that they have a different offer when they come to money raising time.
 
"Lucinda Williams on "The Pretender" Hurts my ears. What happened here?"

i dont know know what's happening with Lucinda! She hasn't been the same lately....she was one of my "new" favorites a dozen years or so ago, with Car Wheels on a Gravel Road.
 
love Jackson Browne......kinda hot and cold on this album though....

some songs should simply never be covered...The Pretender is one...and I am huge fan of Lucinda

Indigo Girls do the best job of them all I think
 
and WMVY is going back on the public airwaves this spring.....but hopefully staying commercial free
 
I guess there will always be head-scratchers on any tribute album. Overall it was fun to hear different takes on these classics. I really think Schneider's version of "Running" might be my favorite on this album.
 
His two acoustic albums are 2 of the best albums I own. Both in my top 5, with what else I'm not sure, but I know those are up there. I've seen him twice - once just plain solo acoustic and more recently half solo acoustic and half with a band. Hard to beat his solo acoustic shows.

I've been fortunate to see a lot of these guys before they stop touring. Hopefully that won't be for a long time but I didn't want to take my chances.
 
I'm a huge fan of his. Probably seen him 30 times, and once got to hang out with him, one-on-one, for about 45 minutes ( A friend ran the concerts for William & Mary. He invited me down, and had me hang out in a room, backstage, hours before the show. After the soundcheck, Jackson came in, saw me, and said, "Sorry. Thought this room was empty". I said, "It is, except for me." He asked if he could sit for awhile... We started talking, and he asked if there was something I wanted to hear. I told him Something Fine. He said it wasn't on their playlist, but he'd see what he could do. About a half dozen songs in he tells the crowd he's gonna do a song for a friend. He leans over the stage- I was in the front row- and tells me they worked it out. After the song ended, I was deluged by women, who apparently thought his "friend" was their ticket to an introduction... :cool:)

 
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