JACK BIRD

Lori Yates (Canada) – “great!!!,”

- Myspace

Barn Hill Station (USA), “So Cool,”

- Myspace

Jack Bird brought his trademark LUSH and EARTHY songs to the night - Eldon House Review

"Jack Bird what a beautiful voice and amazing guitar work. – i wish the whole world had been here to hear it."
- Wench, Feb 14, 2007 - French Horn Review

"Rather good singer songwriter, with some properly rootsy handclap 'n' flute-backed tracks!"
Venue Magazine (Aug 04, 2008) - Venue Magazine - UK

“From a tea house in the foothills of the Himalayas, to Bristol’s Carling Academy to playing round a camp fire on a Cornish beach after a days surfing. Glastonbury’s Jack Bird has created a set of songs he can play anywhere, be it as a solo artist or with a full backing band. This flexibility of performance, plus the worldwide reach that the Internet now allows, means that essentially, he can play anywhere in the world. - Somerset Gazzette

CURRENTLY gaining a lot of interest in America, local singer and songwriter Jack Bird will bring his dark and twisted country blues to the Old Bath Arms, Frome, on Thursday, November 27.

Your Time spoke to Jack to find out more:

Your Time:
How would you describe your music?

Jack:
That's always a difficult one, but some recent reviews by other people probably put it better than I can. For instance, I was recently described as being bar room brawls, smoky pool rooms, dusty highways and full of whisky aching songs.

Live, I perform solo, just me and a guitar or two. I chose to deliberately have such a stripped down approach so that the performances are centred on the songs themselves.

As a solo singer and songwriter, do you find it tougher not being part of a band?

There is a difference and the whole show is carried by me and my music, but at the moment that is the way I want it.

I set myself a challenge, to create a set of songs I can perform that are strong enough that I can perform them solo and get people's spines tingling.

Which vocalists and musicians do you admire?

I love exploring music so my range of influences is huge. But in terms of the songs and performances I am doing right now, then people like Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Patti Smith, Nick Cave and PJ Harvey (in her quieter moods) are all influences.

I guess I try to create songs with meaningful words and with some atmosphere.

Can you tell us a little about the Love Songs For The Revolution CD?

I love the recording process and I am nearly always working on some recording project or other.

As well as my own songs and musical sketches, I also work with a spoken word collective called Wollstoncraft and a number of other musicians.

I also run a small record label that in the next year will be bringing a couple of new bands to the airwaves.

With the Love Songs For The Revolution CD, I was really interested at that time in the Cuban revolution and the relationship between Latin America and the USA.

Although some of my songs are, I guess, politically motivated, I found actually that what was coming to the fore at this point was more emotional and hence the title – Love Songs For The Revolution.

I kind of imagine the songs to be written for the front line guerrillas and freedom fighters to listen to when they are having brief recuperation periods.

What did you hope to achieve when you first started out?

I have always had an intense interest in music. I was one of those geeky types that would spend hours going through people's record collections digging out anything unusual or that I hadn't heard before.

For me, music really became my lifeline after a traffic accident I was involved in. I had back problems afterwards and was in constant pain.

The only way through was to virtually comatose myself with painkillers and sedatives. My way out was through starting to write and perform my own music.

What can people expect at Old Bath Arms?

A Jack Bird gig is always different. I try and respond to the place and the people there at that moment.

So sometimes it can have quite a rock feel while other times it's a much mellower and relaxed feeling.

Again, others may say it better than me and I have been told that my performances are like a force of nature, lush and earthy.

Do you think more could/should be done for young acts in the region?

I don't know about the need for more to be done. I have found that if you get out there and start asking people and looking on the internet and making contacts, there are plenty of people out there who want to help.

What are your plans for 2009?

Plans include playing some festivals in America and the UK; to get my CD out on internet download sites; to get a management and record deal and perhaps starting work on the next album ... also to play live as much as possible.

http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/entertainment/Singer-s-stripped-solo/article-468943-detail/article.html

- This is Somerset

Jack Bird is
flying high
on success

A street singer songwriter has success in his sights after being picked up by a music industry website as a featured artist.

Jack Bird describes his music as bluegrass grunge and work from his latest CD (love songs for the revolution) has been picked to appear on SONGSHOOTER.com, a legal download site that aims to introduce music lovers and industry professionals to new music from across the globe.

His song was chosen by the panel of industry experts who run the website.

“it came out of the blue,” said jack, “I had an email saying that someone had submitted one of my tracks to them and they really liked it and wanted to feature it. - I still don't know who it was that suggested me to them”

Jack will feature on the site over the next few weeks with a new song appearing every 5 days.

“they tell me that around 100,000 people visit the sight each day, and I've had a lot of positive feedback” he said.

“I was also contacted by someone from France who wanted to set up a mini tour there, so good things are already starting to happen.”

Jack Birds music can be found on I-tunes and @ www.reverbnation.com/jackbird and @ www.myspace.com/jack.bird
- midsomerset news and media

The trickle hasn’t yet become a flood but our numbers have swelled,
the drunk has passed out, Shame in a way as I think he might rather have enjoyed Jack Bird, our second act.
Jack is bar room brawls, smoky pool rooms, juxtapositioned and jangling chords,
dusty highways and full of whiskey aching songs.
Jack’s album is called Love Songs For the Revolution - Artist Studio