I'd heard Luke Jackson a few times on Rick Stuarts' Roots & Fusion radio show & had added him to my growing list of 'Artists to checkout'. So I went to this gig knowing Luke was young & talented but no amount of recorded music was going to prepare me for Luke Jackson live.
The Barista Café is a cosy & intimate venue which became even more evident in this heat as audience & artist alike were leaking all over the place. Seeing Luke this close it was easy to see his youthful features which created a mental paradox as he began to sing. Somewhere secretly voices are distilled and aged like a fine malt whisky and a select few are allowed to sip from the barrel giving them a beautiful singing voice that belies their youthful appearance. Maybe it's just that we're force fed a continual diet of boy bands that still sound like they are performing at the school review wrapped in corporate packaging but as soon as Luke started singing I felt this was special. There was an experience and feeling that came through Luke's delivery that I just wasn't ready for. All these thoughts and emotions were stirred up within the first few bars of the night. By the time Luke began to sing his 2nd song A Cappella I leant forward to Rick who was sat in front of me and said 'Just Wow!!'. It's easy to think from the previous words that Luke Jackson is all about the voice but just listening & watching him deliver 'Ghost at The Crossroads' I was loving his attack on the guitar and the Rhythmic use of his stomp box so a great musician as well...
From the first strum of his guitar to the final vocal fade three generations of our family sat there in awe happy that we had witnessed something special. You can always tell how good the evening was by the discussion in the car on the way home and we were all fighting to lay superlatives on the night.
And after all the joy of the bluesy thoughtful songs the thing that was most interesting and possibly the highest compliment was a conversation between myself and Lynn as we readied ourselves for slumber in which we both said 'That was the first time I'd really listened to the words of each song right through the night'. We put it down to a combination of clarity of delivery and powerful songwriting which just connects and from such a young artist, truly wonderful.
At 19yrs old Luke Jackson is still only just starting his journey but the roots are firmly planted and it's easy to see as he continues to grow he has the potential to be magnificent (or continue to be magnificent if you believe like me that he's already as good as anyone out there at the moment).
A big thanks to Phil Smith of Sound Solutions who made sure the sound was spot on and as always Rick Stuart for again laying on an audible feast accompanied by ale quaffing :)
I can't shout this loud enough GO SEE LUKE JACKSON!!!
Find everything Luke Jackson here
http://lukepauljackson.com/
Roots and Fusion lives here it will enrich your life (Show goes out 9pm UK time Wednesday Pure 107.8FM Stockport)
https://www.facebook.com/rootsandfusion?fref=ts
Bye for now.....
