A few years ago I was sitting in the Blue Lamp, watching the weekly Blues Jam when a skinny kid walks in all hyper and shy. All the musicians knew him. A bit later he pulled out his guitar, steps up on stage, and commenced to blow me away with his playing (piano and harmonica too), singing, songwriting and charisma. He soon became all the rage in Sacramento and the Blues festival circuit. He started being groomed to be the next big thing by experienced management. His shows became too produced and calculated. I never saw him play again with the energy and enthusiasm as that first night. That young man was Jackie Green. I'm so happy to see him playing with a master like Phil Lesh. He will graduate from Dead School playing at a whole other level. Check out his website at http://www.jackie-greene.com/. We all need a miracle every day.
Rocker Jackie Greene savors the chance to play the Dead
By Chris Macias - Sacramento Bee Pop Music Critic
A gig with Phil Lesh & Friends is a kind of miracle ticket, a chance to gig at some of the finer venues around the country and jam on classic Grateful Dead tunes.
And that's where Jackie Greene finds himself, playing a Jerry Garcia-like role with Lesh -- the Grateful Dead's bassist -- and a cast of musicians who've had stints with the likes of Bob Dylan (multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell) and Bruce Hornsby & the Range (drummer John Molo).
It's not that Greene was a hardcore Deadhead before landing his role in Phil Lesh & Friends, which performs Sunday at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley. The former Sacramentan knew only the staple Grateful Dead albums -- "Workingman's Dead," "American Beauty" -- so it's been a crash course for Greene in some of the deeper areas of the Grateful Dead's archives.
Greene's usually busy enough touring with his own band and recording solo albums. But being one of Phil's "Friends" sure has its benefits.
"Phil saw us play about two years ago," says Greene, calling on his iPhone while driving to a rehearsal with Lesh and Friends. "And about six months ago, he just called me (in serious voice): 'Jackie, this is Phil Lesh.' He wanted to get together and we hung out and played. We've been hanging out a lot, playing music, going to dinner, all the fun stuff."
So Greene will spend the fall crisscrossing the country with Lesh and company. The tour kicks off Saturday at the Santa Barbara Bowl, lands in Berkeley on Sunday, and reaches such venues as the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Denver plus a 10-night stand at the Nokia Theater in New York's Times Square.
"We're playing some huge places," says Greene. "I've been an opening band at Red Rocks, but never been there as a headliner. And these are long shows: four hours. It's a lot of time, but we end up making it fun, and they're all great to play music with. It's a totally different thing for me, which is why I'm so excited about it."
The hours-long set pays homage to such Grateful Dead classics as "Casey Jones" and "Ripple," includes cover tunes, and the concert even showcases such Greene songs as "Gone Wanderin'" and "Down in the Valley Woe."
Greene's in the spotlight during much of the show, handling lead vocals and many guitar solos. But it's not like Greene will get a free ride from Lesh's fans. Deadheads can be an especially picky bunch when it comes to adaptations of Grateful Dead tunes. Americana star Ryan Adams was especially put on blast after his stint with Phil Lesh & Friends.
"I do realize that this music means so much to so many people," says Greene. "And I might not ever really know, like some people who've been there since the beginning when Jerry was alive, so the only thing I can do is to honor the songs the best way I know how. Honestly, I think that's what Jerry would want."
Playing with Lesh means that Greene has to put his solo career on hold for the next few months. It'll also mark a time of regrouping.
Greene signed a major-label deal with Verve Records in 2005 but opted out of his contract earlier this year. Sales of his major-label debut, "American Myth," were disappointing (25,000 copies, according to the music tracking service Nielsen SoundScan). Greene meanwhile hopes to release a new solo album in February through 429 Records, a boutique label that specializes in adult contemporary and indie-rock music.
"It's got some funkier stuff, some darker stuff, some (messed)-up drum sounds," says Greene about the album-in-progress. "It goes farther than anything I've ever done before.
"I don't have any regrets with Verve," Greene says. "Those were the songs I had at the time and I'm still happy with it -- and I'm still happy the album's still in print. For all of Verve's flaws, they were very good to me. All we can really do as musicians is do our thing, and it doesn't really matter what label puts things out, especially today."
But now it's time for a long and potentially strange trip through the world of Deadhead-dom.
"I'm really excited but at same time I'm really nervous," says Greene. "I want to do well and do my best. I sound like a schoolboy, but I'm going to try really hard. I just feel very lucky to be considered, let alone being hired. This really is a once-in-a-lifetime gig, and a once-in-a-lifetime chance to play these classic songs with one of the guys that was there."
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