Scotty Campbell's Notes From The Drunk Tank
I should start this, my first ever column, by making it clear. I pretty much hate everything. I’m a Musician, not a writer, not a truck driver, not a bouncer. I’ve done a lot of things in my life, in order to make a living, Some of it went well, some of it didn’t. Some of it wound up with me serving time as a guest of the Government and sleeping in various steel beds. But I digress. I’m a Musician. I love music, more than nearly anything I’ve ever kissed, driven, fucked or drank. It always comes back to music. I’m not a big fan of what’s happened to music…a lot of shite passing itself off as music, and not fooling anyone, some it fools everybody. Not me. I know better. Just ask me.
You’ll find me guilty in these pages of Opinionated “Old-fart-it is” and Curmudgeon like ranting…what the hell, I’ve been singing music I love to limited success for 30 years and I love it more than I did the day I started. I’ve earned the right to whine.
BUT…I love as hard as I bitch and so I’ll try and comment, introduce, promote, and generally bang the drum for some wonderful Music and artists that might not get enough of a look in otherwise, and sometimes I’ll just bitch. Because along with Singin’ and drinkin’ and…well..other stuff, It’s what I do.
Jack marks. I’ve heard that name a lot in the past year. He and his band “Lost wages” have been holding court at Toronto’s “Dakota Tavern” every Tuesday night for at least that long. The Dakota is a great spot, always packed, with a decidedly younger crowd, so much so that they’ve spawned a bevy of young nameless wannabe country/roots/folk acts that never play anywhere else. “Collegiate country” I call it. Don’t get me wrong, there are some great acts at this fine venue, but because it’s always packed, some of the others slip in pretty regular too. This makes me pretty wary of any “Buzz” bands emanating from there.
When I first heard rumblings about this great little songwriter Jack Marks I did my usual eye rolling, which only got worse when the list of usual suspects comparisons came.
I swear I was mouthing them along with the teller “Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Jerry Jeff Walker, Steve Earle” …I tend to equate greatness with the “Other” school…the Harlan Howard, Hank Cochran, Roger Miller one.
Is there a Singer songwriter flitting around the Eaglesmith orbit that isn’t a throwback to Guy and Townes and company? You’d swear there were no other songwriters left to name check in that crowd and any of its many outer rings.
So Fuck Jack Marks. I’ll believe it when I see it.
That “Thud” you hear is the list of reasons I was wrong about Jack marks hitting the ground.
I went to see him. Good singer, good songs, not what you’d call exciting. But the great ones don’t have to be. Not sure he’s anywhere near great yet, but he’s pretty Goddamned good and he knows it…but we’ll come back to that.
I liked what I saw and liked it a lot.
Quiet introspective guy, who apparently buys his clothes from the Woody Guthrie/Grapes of wrath collection - suits him. I’d chuck the foam-front farm hat, but only because you can’t swing a dead cat in that bar without hitting a guy wearing one.
I bought the record and threw it in my suitcase. The next afternoon I set out in my van to watch a friend of mine cross the finish line at a marathon she was running just outside Toronto and the Gardner Expressway was closed. Traffic crawling and I was hung over. I knew I’d be awhile so I stuck in jack’s CD “Two of everything” and proceeded to play it end to end twice and again later on the way back to Hamilton. What can I say? Holy Fuck.
He’s as clever a lyricist as I’ve heard in years. Brings me to mind of Edmonton’s Mike Plume, but he’s his own man.
Clever. Sometimes a clever lyricist can be a bad thing, or at least a limiting thing. Corb Lund knocks me out but he can’t make me cry - can’t cut through the clever to get at the sad. Robbie Fulks is brilliant, but even when he’s dark you can hear the tongue in his cheek.
Jack Marks seems incredibly sincere. The songs are full of characters - Named Characters, no fuckin’ around….Father Colin Murphy and Greasy Maggie - I know those guys and so do you. He has an incredible knack for melody, gorgeous, sweet and dare I say “Catchy” Melodies…no lack of Musical hooks here. Something often lacking in a great lyricist, but not here.
The Production is perfect. Perfectly flawed even, Toronto’s David Gavan Baxter treats Jack right, he cares about these songs and it shows. Lots of space, no screaming leads, lotsa pretty piano sitting in the pocket. Everything right where it ought a be. We don’t always see eye to eye, but Baxter nailed this thing.
It all comes back to the songs, as it should. They are Jack Marks. He’s infectious when he’s upbeat, like on (Railroad yard) and funny when he’s Bluesy (It’s hard) and so incredibly sad when he wants to be.
The title track is a fine country nugget about some poor bastard at the end of a very long day.
All I could think of is “I’ve been him…Often! Gimme 2 of everything!”
No Phony-assed Honky-tonk from Mr. Marks, he stays where he’s been and owes as much to the blues and Tom Waits as he does to any of the Townes crowd.
According to Jack it’s “all about the stories” And he tells a great story...
There’s simply not a single chunk of filler on the whole record and “The dress song” might be the best nugget I’ve heard in years and the only song to make me pull over to the side of the road since the Blue Shadows.
I got to talk to Jack the other night and we spilled a couple of beers together before his show. He doesn’t say much but he’s got confidence and drive to burn. Wants to basically play his guts out for the next few years (yes touring is not far off) and build on the
following he believes these songs deserve. He claims to have already cut a whole new album ready to go and has enough songs for a few more. It’s all about the stories and I for one can’t wait to hear them.
Jack mark’s album “Two of everything” is available at Maple Music.com
www.maplemusic.com/artists/jmr/default.asp
Scotty Campbell is a Honky Tonk singer/songwriter living in Southern Ontario and is a familiar face at Western Canadian clubs and festivals. He is writing this column as a condition of his parole.
I should start this, my first ever column, by making it clear. I pretty much hate everything. I’m a Musician, not a writer, not a truck driver, not a bouncer. I’ve done a lot of things in my life, in order to make a living, Some of it went well, some of it didn’t. Some of it wound up with me serving time as a guest of the Government and sleeping in various steel beds. But I digress. I’m a Musician. I love music, more than nearly anything I’ve ever kissed, driven, fucked or drank. It always comes back to music. I’m not a big fan of what’s happened to music…a lot of shite passing itself off as music, and not fooling anyone, some it fools everybody. Not me. I know better. Just ask me.
You’ll find me guilty in these pages of Opinionated “Old-fart-it is” and Curmudgeon like ranting…what the hell, I’ve been singing music I love to limited success for 30 years and I love it more than I did the day I started. I’ve earned the right to whine.
BUT…I love as hard as I bitch and so I’ll try and comment, introduce, promote, and generally bang the drum for some wonderful Music and artists that might not get enough of a look in otherwise, and sometimes I’ll just bitch. Because along with Singin’ and drinkin’ and…well..other stuff, It’s what I do.
Jack marks. I’ve heard that name a lot in the past year. He and his band “Lost wages” have been holding court at Toronto’s “Dakota Tavern” every Tuesday night for at least that long. The Dakota is a great spot, always packed, with a decidedly younger crowd, so much so that they’ve spawned a bevy of young nameless wannabe country/roots/folk acts that never play anywhere else. “Collegiate country” I call it. Don’t get me wrong, there are some great acts at this fine venue, but because it’s always packed, some of the others slip in pretty regular too. This makes me pretty wary of any “Buzz” bands emanating from there.
When I first heard rumblings about this great little songwriter Jack Marks I did my usual eye rolling, which only got worse when the list of usual suspects comparisons came.
I swear I was mouthing them along with the teller “Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Jerry Jeff Walker, Steve Earle” …I tend to equate greatness with the “Other” school…the Harlan Howard, Hank Cochran, Roger Miller one.
Is there a Singer songwriter flitting around the Eaglesmith orbit that isn’t a throwback to Guy and Townes and company? You’d swear there were no other songwriters left to name check in that crowd and any of its many outer rings.
So Fuck Jack Marks. I’ll believe it when I see it.
That “Thud” you hear is the list of reasons I was wrong about Jack marks hitting the ground.
I went to see him. Good singer, good songs, not what you’d call exciting. But the great ones don’t have to be. Not sure he’s anywhere near great yet, but he’s pretty Goddamned good and he knows it…but we’ll come back to that.
I liked what I saw and liked it a lot.
Quiet introspective guy, who apparently buys his clothes from the Woody Guthrie/Grapes of wrath collection - suits him. I’d chuck the foam-front farm hat, but only because you can’t swing a dead cat in that bar without hitting a guy wearing one.
I bought the record and threw it in my suitcase. The next afternoon I set out in my van to watch a friend of mine cross the finish line at a marathon she was running just outside Toronto and the Gardner Expressway was closed. Traffic crawling and I was hung over. I knew I’d be awhile so I stuck in jack’s CD “Two of everything” and proceeded to play it end to end twice and again later on the way back to Hamilton. What can I say? Holy Fuck.
He’s as clever a lyricist as I’ve heard in years. Brings me to mind of Edmonton’s Mike Plume, but he’s his own man.
Clever. Sometimes a clever lyricist can be a bad thing, or at least a limiting thing. Corb Lund knocks me out but he can’t make me cry - can’t cut through the clever to get at the sad. Robbie Fulks is brilliant, but even when he’s dark you can hear the tongue in his cheek.
Jack Marks seems incredibly sincere. The songs are full of characters - Named Characters, no fuckin’ around….Father Colin Murphy and Greasy Maggie - I know those guys and so do you. He has an incredible knack for melody, gorgeous, sweet and dare I say “Catchy” Melodies…no lack of Musical hooks here. Something often lacking in a great lyricist, but not here.
The Production is perfect. Perfectly flawed even, Toronto’s David Gavan Baxter treats Jack right, he cares about these songs and it shows. Lots of space, no screaming leads, lotsa pretty piano sitting in the pocket. Everything right where it ought a be. We don’t always see eye to eye, but Baxter nailed this thing.
It all comes back to the songs, as it should. They are Jack Marks. He’s infectious when he’s upbeat, like on (Railroad yard) and funny when he’s Bluesy (It’s hard) and so incredibly sad when he wants to be.
The title track is a fine country nugget about some poor bastard at the end of a very long day.
All I could think of is “I’ve been him…Often! Gimme 2 of everything!”
No Phony-assed Honky-tonk from Mr. Marks, he stays where he’s been and owes as much to the blues and Tom Waits as he does to any of the Townes crowd.
According to Jack it’s “all about the stories” And he tells a great story...
There’s simply not a single chunk of filler on the whole record and “The dress song” might be the best nugget I’ve heard in years and the only song to make me pull over to the side of the road since the Blue Shadows.
I got to talk to Jack the other night and we spilled a couple of beers together before his show. He doesn’t say much but he’s got confidence and drive to burn. Wants to basically play his guts out for the next few years (yes touring is not far off) and build on the
following he believes these songs deserve. He claims to have already cut a whole new album ready to go and has enough songs for a few more. It’s all about the stories and I for one can’t wait to hear them.
Jack mark’s album “Two of everything” is available at Maple Music.com
www.maplemusic.com/artists/jmr/default.asp
Scotty Campbell is a Honky Tonk singer/songwriter living in Southern Ontario and is a familiar face at Western Canadian clubs and festivals. He is writing this column as a condition of his parole.
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