Lynn Jackson

For Lynn Jackson, it's all about the songs.

25 years and thirteen albums into her career, the one constant fans have come to expect is top-notch songwriting and that voice.

Experimentation is the lifeblood of every artist, and when ideas suddenly coalesce into something that until that moment seemed beyond reach, it casts an entirely new light on their identity.

Over the course over her nearly 25-year recording career, Lynn Jackson has always served the song, allowing each collection of sounds and moods evolve into each new album.

Lynn's newest album Mirrors stretches out from the folk-roots of her past releases and includes rockers and ballads with electric guitar against haunting strings.  Covers of Sinead and Chris Cornell are tributes.

Lynn explains, “Many of the songs on Mirrors are based on recollections I have from the time when I was young, up to high school and into my early twenties. The songs are kind of ‘flashes’ of memories, or ‘reflections’ of key moments in my life in those formative years. There were lots of difficulties, especially at home.”

She adds, “I think ‘Ghost Walking’ best sums up my approach on this album. It’s about looking back on your life as if you were watching a film with key moments highlighted—those spectacular heights, those crushing blows, and new discoveries, like playing music, that have become such a part of your makeup that you don’t consciously think of them. They are just there.”

Along with “Ghost Walking,” that theme provides the foundation for other standout tracks, “Rooms Full of Mirrors,” “I Was,” “Gas Station to Nowhere” and “Into the Distance.”Mirrors also includes re-imagined covers of Sinead O’Connor’s “Troy” andSoundgarden’s “Rusty Cage.” In short, Lynn held nothing back in the studio, crafting haunting string arrangements on some songs in collaboration with violinist Alison Corbett and cellist Nick Storring, while on others laying down some raw, live-off-the floor rock and roll with her trusted group of players.

Since releasing her 2004 debut, Night Songs. Lynn has been remarkably prolific, releasing 12 albums and along the way working with Michael Timmins of Cowboy Junkies, and even Norman Blake of Teenage Fanclub during the few years when he was a Kitchener resident.

FATEA Magazine’s David Kidman described her work as, “confessional songs of an understated power that don’t exclude the listener from her thought-processes and yet don’t insist that the listener takes every step of the journey.” Writing in Americana UK, Keith Hargreaves said of the Timmins-produced Follow That Fire, “If you like your Americana gothic and compelling this will reward your investment many times over.”

Now with Mirrors, Lynn Jackson may have finally made her masterpiece, a collection of songs that truly capture the arc of her life story in ways that all of us can relate to. “It’s weird,” she says, “sometimes I wonder if I did the right thing by going to school and having my ‘back up plan,’ when I should have just focused on music right out of the gate. But then I think that maybe age and time has made me bolder. Writing this album and putting it out into the world—it sounds like a cliché—but it’s been cathartic."

Reviews in brief:

Tom Phillips (Calgary, AB Singer-Songwriter ) - June 2020

Great songs. Great band. Great vocals. The whole thing sounds great, so many different instrumental touches too. 

The singing is so strong and I really love the sound of the acoustic guitar and where it is in the mix, while the arrangements are fantastic the  rhythm guitar and vocals on these wonderful songs could stand alone anywhere!

 Chris Connelly (Musician - Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Finitribe) - June 2020
 It’s unusual for me as a person who writes songs to find really strong musical connections, connections that are more than the usual, lovely things that unite us as artists ( and I am eternally grateful for that) but, when someone’s song bypasses your ears and just passes gracefully into your soul and your history, then, it’s time to get excited and say THERE IS SOMEONE ELSE ON THIS ISLAND!!! 

   Oh yes, it’s happened for me with those amazing and incredibly renowned writers, that helped write the BOOK, that we grew up with, Leonard Cohen, Dylan, John Martyn, Nick drake, Lou Reed.Patti smith, Joni,  (it’s a long list) But someone doing that now? Oh, they are out there, yes, of course they are, but it can be needle in a haystack stuff….. 

   Lynn Jackson is such an artist, and she has a new album out, “lionheart”, a beautiful journey, a gritty journey, her heart grips her voice with an iron hold, steers it to the places it has to go, and it steers it to the places it maybe doesn’t want to go, and it’s always, so, so heartbreakingly HUMAN. I have done this for forty fucking years, I KNOW when I hear a soul sing, and I know when I am being lied to as well. 

 I know I will always write, and knowing that there is a LYNN JACKSON out there makes me feel cosily self righteous and completely vindicated.

Tim Willcox, Kitchener, ON - June 20, 2020.

Really sat and listened to Lynn Jackson 's latest, "Lionheart". Great CD, liner notes, booklet and photos. From the folkie songbird that does Cramps, Ol' Dirty Bastard and Grunge covers, Lynn channels Kurt Cobain on tracks 4 & 6, and Lou Reed on track 11, Cobwebs. Well played folkie guitar lady....well played.  

Fervor Coulee - 2017
Damn, she’s good. Great songs, great voice, inspired production: get this one. Fingers crossed: this is Lynn Jackson’s Car Wheels on a Gravel Road.

Americana UK - 2017
If you like your Americana gothic and compelling this will reward your investment many times over.  8/10

All Music.com - May 2013 - Thom Jurek 
Canadian singer/songwriter Lynn Jackson’s catalog has deep Americana roots, in the very best way that tag implies. . . Jackson is an excellent narrative songwriter; she tells stories that the listener can climb inside and inhabit for as long as she wishes, and is haunted by them long after the recording ends. Down in the Dust is full of such moments. 

PENGUIN EGGS - DECEMBER 2012 
There is something hauntingly familiar about Lynn Jackson’s Down in the Dust. Whether it’s the inspired first cut Paper Airplanes, where Jackson delivers a stellar performance, or the terrific cover of Lawrence KS (Josh Ritter), sliding this CD into the tray feels very comfortable. . . . . it is a well put together package by a talented artist and team. 

CBC - NOVEMBER 2012 - BOB MERSEREAU 
Jackson’s a strong roots songwriter with five previous albums to her credit, and a growing body of high-quality, emotional and open tunes.  . . .it's all connected by fine writing, some soul-deep stuff. 

THE WATERLOO REGION RECORD - OCTOBER 2012 - ROBERT REID 
With the release of Down in the Dust, her sixth album since 2004, Lynn Jackson has quietly but insistently become one of the most prolific roots artists in this area. . . finely crafted original compositions. The closing, title track sends pricklies up the back of your neck. 

NIGHTLIFE - SEPTEMBER 2012 
Lynn Jackson, Busted Flat Record’s premier songbird, has had an impressive musical career. Now eight years and six records in, Jackson has developed into a sophisticated songwriter . . . ..She’s no one-trick pony. . ..It’s easy to believe that she’s capable of conquering any adventure she embarks upon.’ 

Exclaim! Magazine, 2010 
On her fifth studio CD, Coming Down (2010), Jackson stretches creatively out of her patented blend of folk-roots into “into more pop-informed territory. . . . potentially reaching a wider audience. Jackson has made a creative breakthough.” 

The Waterloo Region Record, 2010 
“Coming Down (2010) ventures more deeply into pop – with forays into reggae, funk, blues, Klezmer and jazz – than previous releases. Enjoy the ride and stay tuned.” 

Vue Magazine, Edmonton, AB 
Soft Stars (2008) is “sweetly urgent honky-tonk infused with lush and unexpected orchestral touches . . . boosted by Jackson’s pliant whiskey ‘n’ honey voice. A deft innovator, Jackson dangles her rootsy tunes into other genres.” 

Sing Out! 
On Restless Days (2007) 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 
 Restless Days (2007) “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.” 

Echo magazine 
Restless Days (2007) “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." 

http://www.lynnjackson.net 
http://www.bustedflatrecords.com 
Media:  Mark Logan, Busted Flat Records 
(519) 221-0884 
bustedflatrecords@gmail.com