KENNY JACKSON, THE SHORTEST DAY

KENNY JACKSON
THE SHORTEST DAY

Crow Hill Music
CHM-CD-004

Jackson has been a longtime member of the old-time music scene. Starting out playing guitar with Brad Leftwich and Linda Higginbotham, he was a member of Big Medicine. On this, his second solo effort, he’s joined from time to time by his current bandmates from the Bow Benders. They are Carl Jones, Erynn Marshall, and Bobb Head.

Some of the most outstanding music here are the fiddle guitar duets with Carl Jones on guitar. The interplay between Jackson and Jones on “Echoes Of The Ozarks” and “Grand Spy” is textbook perfect. There are two great original fiddle tunes, “Broke Down Barn” and “Old No. 2,” with Jackson and Bobb Head on gut-string banjo. Erynn Marshall joins him on three tunes for some sweet harmonies. Two exceptional cuts are the ballads with old-time banjo accompaniment—“Wild Bill Jones” and “Scotland Man.” The duet with his wife Rochelle on “Her Bright Smile Haunts Me Still” is eerie, conjuring misty mountains, haints, and all that is supernatural in those high places.

Jackson wrote nine of the tunes here. They are compelling and complex like the man who made them. This recording is rich and varied and well worth your time if you like old-time fiddle tunes and those achingly haunting ballads of days gone by. Don’t miss this fine effort. (www.kennyjacksonmusic.com)RCB