Lynn Jackson

Lynn Jackson biography An authenticity runs through Lynn Jackson’s music that reflects a deep commitment to telling stories that ring true with listeners. Combine this with her gentle voice, rich instrumentation (mandolin, dobro, keyboard, tambourine and guitars) and sweet melodies and you get a sound that is more than just a little pop-folk with a hint of country. Jackson was named Female Indie Artist of the Year for 2005 by the Kitchener-Waterloo Record - and she has continued to tour C...

Lynn Jackson biography An authenticity runs through Lynn Jackson’s music that reflects a deep commitment to telling stories that ring true with listeners. Combine this with her gentle voice, rich instrumentation (mandolin, dobro, keyboard, tambourine and guitars) and sweet melodies and you get a sound that is more than just a little pop-folk with a hint of country. Jackson was named Female Indie Artist of the Year for 2005 by the Kitchener-Waterloo Record - and she has continued to tour Canada from coast to coast, releasing an album a year since 2004. She performed at Guelph's Hillside Festival in 2007, including a songwriting workshop with Ron Sexsmith and Melissa Ferrick. A bit about Lynn's albums and songwriting: Sing Out! says that Jackson offers up “spare poetic mood-songs and a wistful whispery voice that conveys a palette of emotion from longing and regret to freedom and nostalgia.” But it is often her song-writing itself that is the focus of reviews and acclaim. The Victoria Times Colonist says of Jackson’s song-writing that “even the arrangements put an emphasis on her words. The rootsy instrumentals are stripped-down and full of delicate acoustic plucking. It allows her high, fragile voice to take the fore.” Jackson has released four albums since her 2004 debut (Night Songs, independent), including Sweet Relief (Busted Flat, 2005), which received regular radio play on campus and community stations across North America, Restless Days (2007, Busted Flat), and her most recent release, Soft Stars (2008) which has gotten CBC radio play across the country. Soft Stars is 'sweetly urgent modern honky-tonk infused with lush and unexpected orchestral touches and an intimacy boosted by superb clarion production and Jackson’s pliant whiskey ’n’ honey voice,' says Vue Weekly in Edmonton. Says the Kitchener-Waterloo Record in Ontario: 'Soft Stars is Jackson's most expansive album. Her palette is broader with more colours and textures . . . if she keeps releasing albums at such a torrid pace, she will attract comparisons to prolific American artist Ani Difranco.' Says Monday Magazine in Victoria, B.C. of Jackson's album, Restless Days (2007): '...a solid-sounding record that highlights her soulful voice...spinning tales about down-and-outers or singing love songs, Jackson's voice is meszmerizing..." Of the album Restless Days, The Kitchener-Waterloo Record says that “Jackson continues to grow as a songwriter as she extends her lyrical palette to encompass both the personal and the social. [Restless Days] takes her further down the alt-country highway – she’s a sweeter version of Kathleen Edwards or Shelby Lynn.” Exclaim! magazine called Sweet Relief (2005) “an understated gem,” and Restless Days has already been earning similar praise from critics and fans. Jackson’s influences include artists who write their own songs about interesting characters – song-writers like Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, Lucinda Williams, Ani DiFranco and Leonard Cohen. She listens for honesty, “which you can recognize when you hear it because you know what the artist is talking about,” Jackson states. “I like to write about the human condition, the things that people don’t talk about and just suffer through,” Jackson says. “I put myself in their position to write, often at night when most people are in bed and it’s quiet -- when I find there’s time to think.” Echo magazine says that “Lynn Jackson is carrying on a glorious tradition. Like Cash, Dylan, Cohen, and so many other songwriting pillars before her, Jackson is writing for the people. Now three records into her career...she has strayed slightly from the intensely personal subjects that characterized her early work and has blossomed into a true storyteller, spinning yarns about the minutiae that defines the lives of us all." "I've always been writing, since I was in high school," Jackson says, noting that she studied literature and journalism at college. "I knew I liked singing, so eventually I just combined the two. It just evolved from there until I started writing songs.” Lynn on playing live and touring: “Playing for new people and getting a great response is what it’s all about,” she says. “Touring and writing and the whole thing put together is a ton of work – you really have to be doing it because you love it, and because you can’t imagine what you’d do if you weren’t doing this – that’s what it comes down to for me,” she says. Jackson believes that “the more you try, and the more you listen to, the better a writer you will become.” That’s why she’ experimented with a more piano-cello sound for Soft Stars and why she will be blending that sound with roots and pop on her upcoming album Coming Down slated for release in 2010. www.lynnjackson.net www.bustedflatrecords.com www.myspace.com/lynnjackson