'I was always a searcher': Jackson and the Janks to bring New Orleans inspired 'garage gospel' to Calgary
In his early 20s, Jackson Lynch decided he needed to live in New Orleans if he wanted to make a go of a music career.
Article content
It wasn't as if he was living in the boonies before that. He was a New Yorker who would attend all-ages, hardcore punk shows in the underground clubs of the Lower East Side. But on his frequent trips to the Big Easy, he felt a new world opening up musically. It had the same fierce DIY spirit as hardcore, even if it didn't much sound like it.
Article content
Article content
'I was in my early 20s and was like, 'Damn, if I'm going to take music seriously for my life, this is where I gotta be,' ' he says. 'So I picked it all up and went down there and was there for many years. It was the brokest I've ever been in my life, but I was the richest I've ever been in my life creatively.'
Article content
Article content
Initially, he would busk every day in the French Quarter. It put him in touch with fellow musicians. That included future Grammy winner and 2025 Calgary Folk Music Festival headliner Sierra Ferrell. He met up with ragtime band Tuba Skinny and the members of Hurrah for the Riff Raff.
Article content
'I would bring my fiddle out every day,' he says. 'I was so broke, man. I would go out at 9 a.m. every day, and I would play the fiddle in front of this cafe. I would make like $40. And I was like, 'Hell, yeah! I'm good for the day.'
Later in the day, he would jam with jazz bands on Royal Street.
Article content
'I really cut my teeth,' says Lynch, whose band Jackson and the Janks will be making its Canadian debut on Saturday as part of East Town Get Down in Calgary.
Article content
Lynch is back in Brooklyn these days, but New Orleans is where Jackson and the Janks were born. Lynch eventually picked up an electric guitar and began creating a distinct 'garage gospel' sound that brought in various musical threads from New Orleans. The band's self-titled debut was recorded over several years in New Orleans and released in 2023. It has three originals by Lynch, but most of the material is old gospel standards and obscurities that the Janks re-envisioned in the studio.
Article content
That includes a Kinks-like run through Give an Account, which Lynch first heard as an old field recording by sisters Dorothy Lee, Norma Jean and Shirley Marie Johnson. Sleep On, Mother, a song that originated with an a cappella group called the Silver Leaf Quartette of Norfolk that performed spiritual music in the 1920s and 1930s.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Canada News.Net
3 hours ago
- Canada News.Net
Celine Dion attends Coldplay Concert in Las Vegas amid stiff-person syndrome diagnosis
Washington DC [US], June 10 (ANI): Popular Canadian singer Celine Dion recently attended a Coldplay concert at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, reported People. Celine, who has been battling with stiff-person syndrome, is now making headlines for attending the show. She posted several pictures on her Instagram handle and wrote in the caption, 'What an unforgettable evening with @Coldplay at @ heart is still singing!' She added, 'A heartfelt thanks to the band and their amazing team for welcoming my family with warmth and kindness. It was Recently, Dion was seen enjoying the show as Coldplay performed on the latest stop at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas for another night of their Music of the Spheres World Tour. One photo shows the 'Power of Love' singer in a huddle with the band, while another captures her deep in conversation with Coldplay frontman Chris Martin. Other snaps in the post include her waving at members of the crowd and making a heart gesture with her hands after appearing on the concert's big circular screen, reported People. The setlist included Coldplay classics such as 'Paradise,' 'Yellow,' and 'Clocks.' Dion appeared to have been joined at the show by her three sons -- Rene-Charles, 24, and twins Nelson and Eddy, 14 -- whom she shared with her late husband, Rene Angelil, reported People. Dion and Angelil's love story began in 1980 when a 12-year-old Dion auditioned for him. He became her manager, and their professional partnership lasted seven years before they started dating in 1987, when Dion was 19. At first, Dion kept their relationship private, worried about public opinion.'I was afraid of what people would think,' she told People in 1994. The couple also revealed their relationship publicly after being engaged for several years. 'When I was at the age to be able to say to people [we were together] ... It was like bang! Love! Love always wins,' Dion wrote in her memoir. The two were married on December 17, 1994, in a lavish ceremony at Montreal's Notre-Dame Basilica, which was broadcast live in Canada. In recent years, Dion has faced health challenges of her own. In December 2022, the singer shared her diagnosis of stiff-person syndrome, a rare neurological disorder, which has impacted her career. Earlier this month, Dion shared how her children have inspired her to fight stiff-person syndrome. She was diagnosed with the rare autoimmune and neurological disorder in August 2022, almost six years after Angelil died from throat cancer. 'I barely could walk at one point, and I was missing very much living. My kids started to notice. I was like, 'OK, they already lost a parent. I don't want them to be scared',' said Dion. 'I let them know, 'You lost your dad, [but] mom has a condition and it's different. I'm not going to die. It's something that I'm going to learn to live with,' reported People. (ANI)
Toronto Star
4 hours ago
- Toronto Star
What the CBC needs: not more money, but real leadership
In the new book 'The Big Picture: A Personal History of Independent Television Production in Canada,' veteran TV producer Pat Ferns — who helped shepherd into existence such well-remembered creations as 'Glory Enough for All' and 'Letter from Wingfield Farm' — outlines the evolution of Canada's independent production industry and its worrying future prospects. Here, he offers some free advice for the CBC. In a 1939 speech, my godfather, Leonard Brockington — the CBC's first chairman — passionately urged our new public broadcaster to concentrate 'all available sources of revenue … on the production of Canadian programs.' He described the ideal model as 'public ownership of stations, competition in programs,' and warned that 'advertising and the profit motive should not be the foundations on which this new medium of mass communication should be built.' If only his advice had been followed. Instead, we've ended up with a hybrid public broadcaster — particularly in television — that is increasingly dependent on advertising revenue, and perpetually pleading poverty when compared to its international peers. In broad strokes, CBC's budget is about $1.4 billion of which about $400 million comes from advertising revenue — more than the promised new funding, but more than sufficient to distort its vision as a public broadcaster. Opinion articles are based on the author's interpretations and judgments of facts, data and events. More details
Toronto Star
6 hours ago
- Toronto Star
Guillermo del Toro to introduce Canadian horror screenings in Toronto
Consider these scenes from the snow-dusted world of Canadian horror films, where the ordinary turns strange and insanity reigns. In David Cronenberg's 'Rabid,' a distressed woman asks a man for a hug. She then stabs him with her Freudian phallic armpit spike, sucking his blood and infecting him with a form of rabies that turns him into a zombielike rager.
