Biography
“I am interested in place; in this land. I am influenced deeply by the resonance resulting from hundreds of years of human passage. I want to channel those stories, that history, that mythology.”
-Burke Jam
Churchmouse is the moniker Northwestern songwriter Burke Jam uses to engender his most recent collection of songs ...And Only One Sky.... Born in southern Montana, Burke has been performing and recording since 1997, always finding a balance between embracing the roots of traditional American folk music and the heavily atmospheric and experimental.
The unforgiving dry earth, the empty wilderness, and the ancient mountains ring out in his music. The struggle to maintain a living in the wake of the demise of the mining and logging industries, and the defiant survivalist individualism of people are deeply embedded in Burke’s songs. Each one feels like the soundtrack to a sad exodus from a dying town.
His previous album, Quiet:Open - released under his own name - was recorded in the fall of 2003 in Missoula, Montana. Burke has divided his intervening time between touring with instrumental ensemble This is a Process of a Still Life and playing solo shows. As well he has worked on various collaborations including the live score for the play Pushcarts by Fringe Festival nominees The Candidatos – all while employed as a Forest Service Smokejumper during the summers.
Written over the course of two years and recorded in Missoula, MT during the Winter of 06/Spring of 07, ...And Only One Sky... delivers a mix of both dense, organic arrangements and stark, minimal instrumentation - all in service of the storytelling aspect of his songs. “Burke’s voice sounds ancient and sad” (The Independent) - the tones are rustic, but immediate; an homage to a dust-bowl era landscape. “Jam pens rootsy, sparse, oftentimes dark tunes underlying gruff bass vocals” (Sound Seattle).
To listen to ...And Only One Sky... is to be transported in time to another era - to see this past unfold before you - and walk in the steps of so many, all the way into the maelstrom of the present. Burke creates songs that, however personal they may be to him, speak to every listener. He has tapped into the mythological - the collective unconscious - and crisscrosses the great divide between hope and anguish with deft ability.
Instrumentation
Burke Jam - vocals/guitar/banjo/saw and additional auxilary noise
Discography
Quiet : Open
2003, Basement Jam Music / Firefly Sessions (Full length CD)
... And Only One Sky...
2007, Firefly Sessions (Full length CD)
Links
| http://www.myspace.com/burkejam |