by Nick Deriso – SomethingElseReviews.com

With Standing in the Breach, Jackson Browne makes a stunningly bold statement of purpose in a moment that might have been more reflective. After all, his very best music was the subject of a celebrated recent tribute album, something that might have left a lesser artist more humbled than ambitious. Not Browne. His first album of new songs since 2008, set for release on Browne’s own Inside Recordings in October, finds him working at peak creativity — as a writer, as a performer, as a bandmate.

Standing in the Breach is as layered as it is honest, as reflective as it is determined. Along the way, that takes Browne to places both reliably satisfying, and surprisingly new.

There’s “Yeah Yeah,” which belies its breezy title and chorus as Browne digs deep into a lover’s character study — without ever letting go of this song’s infectious hook. All of that is nicely balanced by “The Long Way Around,” as Browne traces a quieter, more personal shape around criticism of our unthankful modernity. Anyone who bought his first three or four albums will find themselves transported instantly back there.

But the restless Browne isn’t about to sit still. “Leaving Winslow,” at first, seems to follow that anger toward a sharper riff, but we find Browne instead hopping a rattling freight to follow his dreams. Already, the smart interplay between Greg Leisz and Val McCallum, as much as Browne’s pinpoint lyricism, has proven to be the engine that drives Standing in the Breach.

“It Could Be Anywhere” boasts a snappy, Beatlesque cadence, while “You Know the Night” pulls on a pair of dusty boots for an evening of two-stepping reminiscence. “Walls and Doors,” a meditation on the complexities of freedom, actually ends up giving Browne a chance to grow more introspective still. But then there’s “Which Side,” where Browne marches along in lyrical lockstep with Bob Dylan’s smart and too-often-overlooked “You Gotta Serve Somebody.”

The title track makes a clarion call for service, before “Here” arrives like a splash of 1970s-era Fleetwood Mac sunshine. Then there’s “The Birds of St. Marks,” an advance song of deeply personal beauty. Like “You Know the Night,” that track has been around for some time — but these songs, like Jackson Browne, sound born anew here.

Complex both emotionally and musically, Standing in the Breach is one of the most viscerally present albums in his storied career. Anyone of his vintage, of course, could perhaps be forgiven for looking backward. Browne is instead pushing himself ever forward — aware of the past, willing to reshape it and to build upon it, but ever forward.

Jackson Browne is featured at the 2nd Annual Benefit Concert for Jail Guitar Doors USA at the historic John Anson Ford Amphitheatre in Hollywood, CA, September 5th.

The concert is curated by MC5 guitarist & JBD-USA Co-founder Wayne Kramer. The show features a line-up including comedian/emcee Dana Gould, with featured performers including Jackson Browne, Tom Morello, White Fence, Jill Sobule and JGD Program Graduate Franc Foster.

The show will be held at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, 2580 Cahenga Blvd., East, Hollywood, CA. Friday, September 5th at 8pm, $25 General Admission / to $150 VIP Packages. More information about the show can be found here.

About Jail Guitar Doors USA
In 1978, The Clash released the song, “Jail Guitar Doors.” The song tells the story of the imprisonment of their fellow musician Wayne Kramer. In 2007, to honor the life of Clash founder, Joe Strummer, Billy Bragg launches an initiative in England to provide musical equipment used to rehabilitate inmates serving time in Her Majestys Prisons in the United Kingdom. His initiative is named for that very same song, Jail Guitar Doors. In 2009, Wayne Kramer partners with Billy Bragg to found Jail Guitar Doors USA. Together, their combined effort continues the mission for prisoners in America.

More information about Jail Guitar Doors USA can be found here.

LOS ANGELES,Aug. 19, 2014/PRNewswire/ — OnOctober 7th,Jackson Brownewill release his 14th studio album,Standing In The Breach. The album was recorded inLos Angelesand features the single “The Birds Of St. Marks,” which debuted yesterday on Rolling Stone and MOJO and is available today for download viaAmazonandiTuneswhen the albumStanding In The Breachis pre-ordered. “RINGING PEALS OF GUITARherald the coming of a great newJackson Brownerelease,” saidMOJO.

“The Birds ofSt. Marks” was originally written in 1967 when Jackson was just 18 and returning home toCaliforniaafter a brief stint living inNew York. The song was recorded as a demo in 1970 and occasionally heard in the live setting as captured on hisSolo Acoustic Vol. 1, but has only now been given the treatment Jackson had originally envisioned.”This is a song I always heard as a Byrds song, and that was even part of the writing of the song,” he toldRolling Stone. The finished version of the song featuresGreg Leiszplaying a “McGuinn-esque 12-string,” described Rolling Stone.Leisz and Jackson were joinedbyVal McCallum(electric guitar),Bob Glaub(bass) andDon Heffington(drums), whileas described in MOJO “McCallum andKipp Lennonstir[ed] essence of Crosby into the vocal harmonies.”

Jackson Brownelaunches an album tour this fall, with band dates starting at The Kennedy Center inWashington DC, and ending at The Royal Albert Hall inLondon, England. He will also appear on The Late Show withDavid LettermanonOctober 6thand CBS This Morning on October 11th. Accompanying Jackson on the road are longtime band matesVal McCallum(guitar),Mauricio Lewak(drums),Jeff Young(keyboards) andBob Glaub(bass), with the addition of acclaimed multi-instrumentalistGreg Leisz(guitar, lap steel, pedal steel).

Standing In The Breach, is a collection of ten songs, at turns deeply personal and political, exploring love, hope, and defiance in the face of the advancing uncertainties of modern life. “The interplay betweenVal McCallumandGreg Leiszon this album – the effortlessness of their chemistry is a gift really, that just dropped into my lap,” says Jackson. The album will be available everywhere onOctober 7th.

Track Listing forStanding In The Breach:
1)The Birds Of St. Marks
2)Yeah Yeah
3)The Long Way Around
4)Leaving Winslow
5)If I Could Be Anywhere
6)You Know The Night
7)Walls And Doors
8)Which Side
9)Standing In The Breach
10)Here

Tour Dates: (MORE TO BE ADDED)

Solo Acoustic
August 19- Capitol Center -Concord, NH
August 20- Providence PAC -Providence, RI
August 22- Toyota Presents the Oakdale Theatre -Wallingford, CT
August 23- Hippodrome Theatre -Baltimore, MD

FALL TOUR (U.S)
Full Band
September 14- Kennedy Center -Washington, DC
September 27-Newport Folk FestPresentsWay Over Yonder -Santa Monica, CA
October 4- Strand Capitol Performing Arts Center -York, PA
October 7- Beacon Theatre -New York, NY
October 8- Beacon Theatre -New York NY
October 10- Academy of Music -Philadelphia, PA
October 12- Benedum Center -Pittsburgh, PA
October 14- Chicago Theatre -Chicago, IL
October 15- E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall -Akron, OH
October 17- Palace Theatre -Columbus, OH
October 18- Murat Theatre -Indianapolis, IN

FALL TOUR (U.K.)
Full Band
November 17- Symphony Hall -Birmingham, UK
November 18-Bridgewater Hall-Manchester, UK
November 20- The Sage -Gateshead, UK
November 21- Royal Concert Hall -Glasgow, UK
November 24- Royal Albert Hall -London, UK

Oktober erscheint mit “Standing In The Breach” das vierzehnte Studioalbum von Jackson Browne. ROLLING STONE prsentiert schon jetzt die exklusive Premiere des neuen Songs “The Birds Of St. Marks”.

Oktober wird mit “Standing In The Breach“ ein neues Album von Jackson Browne erscheinen. Es ist bereits das vierzehnte Studiowerk in der Karriere des in Heidelberg geborenen Musikers. Im Herbst ist Browne zusamen mit seinen langjhrigen Bandkollegen Val McCallum, Mauricio Lewak, Jeff Young und Bob Glaub auf Tour. (Termine fr Deutschland sind bisher noch nicht angekndigt.)

Oktober wird mit “Standing In The Breach“ ein neues Album von Jackson Browne erscheinen. Es ist bereits das vierzehnte Studiowerk in der Karriere des in Heidelberg geborenen Musikers. Im Herbst ist Browne zusamen mit seinen langjhrigen Bandkollegen Val McCallum, Mauricio Lewak, Jeff Young und Bob Glaub auf Tour. (Termine fr Deutschland sind bisher noch nicht angekndigt.)

“Das ist meine absolute Wunschband, mit einigen meiner liebsten Musikern, die alle auch auf der neuen CD dabei sind. Ihre gemeinsamen Talente sttzen das musikalische und emotionale Fundament meiner neuen Songs”, sagt Browne mit groem Stolz.

Oktober wird mit “Standing In The Breach“ ein neues Album von Jackson Browne erscheinen. Es ist bereits das vierzehnte Studiowerk in der Karriere des in Heidelberg geborenen Musikers. Im Herbst ist Browne zusamen mit seinen langjhrigen Bandkollegen Val McCallum, Mauricio Lewak, Jeff Young und Bob Glaub auf Tour. (Termine fr Deutschland sind bisher noch nicht angekndigt.)

“Das ist meine absolute Wunschband, mit einigen meiner liebsten Musikern, die alle auch auf der neuen CD dabei sind. Ihre gemeinsamen Talente sttzen das musikalische und emotionale Fundament meiner neuen Songs”, sagt Browne mit groem Stolz.

ROLLING STONE prsentiert exklusiv die Premiere seines neuen Songs “The Birds Of St. Marks”:

By Danny Eccleston — MOJO Magazine

Ringing peals of guitar herald the coming of a great new Jackson Browne release, itself a harbinger of an October 6-7 album, Standing In The Breach, his 14th. Browne fans will find the rousing electric incarnation unfamiliar, but the song itself is from the archive.

The Birds Of St. Marks was originally recorded on April 6, 1970 as a demo for Criterion Music, and first emerged on Browne’s 2005 album, Solo Acoustic Vol 1. Concerning a medieval-ish queen sequestered in sadness behind castle walls, the song was inspired by Velvet Underground songstrel Nico, with whom the young Browne, as a dashing young-songwriter about town, had a dalliance. Browne songs and co-writes These Days, Somewhere Theres A Feather, The Fairest Of The Seasons lay at the heart of the Teutonic ice-maiden’s 1967 debut solo album, Chelsea Girl.

The new band treatment of The Birds Of St. Marks sees Browne (acoustic guitar), Val McCallum (electric guitar), Don Heffington (drums), and Bob Glaub (bass) joined by Greg Leisz on 12-string guitar, while McCallum and Kipp Lennon stir essence of Crosby into the vocal harmonies. The interplay between Val McCallum and Greg Leisz on this album the effortlessness of their chemistry is a gift really, enthuses Browne.

The album, Standing In The Breach, is available for pre-order now through Amazon and digitally through iTunes. Browne is currently on tour solo, to be joined by a full band in the States from September 14 and in the UK from November 17. For more detail on dates, visit www.jacksonbrowne.com.