Benmont Tench
Hollywood Bowl, October 1, 2010
Background information
Born	(1953-09-07) September 7, 1953 (age 58)
Origin	Gainesville, Florida
Genres	Rock, country
Instruments	piano, organ, Mellotron, synthesizer, clavinet, accordion, guitar, bass guitar, drums, vocals
Years active	1974–present
Associated acts	Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Mudcrutch, Don Henley, Johnny Cash, Works Progress Administration
Notable instruments
Steinway Grand Piano Hammond C-3 organ Vox Continental organ

Benjamin Montmorency "Benmont" Tench III (born September 7, 1953) is an American keyboardist best known as a founding member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

Early years[link]

Benmont Tench was born in Gainesville, Florida, the second child of Benjamin Montmorency Tench, Jr. and Mary Catherine McInnis Tench.^[1] His father was born and raised in Gainesville, and served as a circuit court judge.^[2]

Benmont Tench played piano from an early age and his first recital was at age six. After discovering the music of The Beatles, he ended his classical piano lessons and focused on rock and roll. He met Tom Petty for the first time at a Gainesville music store when he was 11. Petty and Tench played together as members of the Sundowners in 1964.^[3] The Tenches' garage was a frequent practice site for the band on evenings when Benmont's father was out for the evening. Benmont's mother enjoyed having the boys there, but she would check with the neighbors to make certain the music wouldn't disturb them.^[4]

Education[link]

Benmont attended Phillips Exeter Academy, and subsequently Tulane University in New Orleans.^[5] While on a college break, Tench went to a concert by Mudcrutch, Petty's band, with an opening act from nearby Jacksonville, Lynyrd Skynyrd. Afterwards, he sat in with the band on several different sessions, then went back to school. Soon after, Petty called Tench and asked him to quit school and join Mudcrutch full-time, which after long deliberation, Benmont agreed to; but before he would leave school, Petty had to convince Circuit Court Judge Benjamin Tench that his son had a promising music career.^[6]

Professional musician[link]

Mudcrutch eventually evolved into Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.^[7]

Other bands he played in include: The Apathetics, the MiffMole Band, and Tuna Fish and Larry.

In addition to playing piano and Hammond organ with the Heartbreakers, Tench is also known as a skilled session musician, having recorded with dozens of notable artists, including Johnny Cash, U2, Elisa, Stevie Nicks, Lucinda Williams, Sam Phillips, You Am I, Susanna Hoffs, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, The Rolling Stones, Don Henley, John Prine, Ringo Starr, John Fogerty, Elvis Costello, Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crow, Waylon Jennings, Paul Westerberg, X, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Carlene Carter, The dB's, Alanis Morissette, The Ramones, The Screaming Trees, The Tragically Hip, The Divinyls, The Goo Goo Dolls, Green Day, The Cult, The Jayhawks, Dave Rawlings, Fiona Apple, Lone Justice, Sean Watkins, New Found Glory, Tift Merritt, Peter Case, Neil Diamond, Ryan Adams and Powderfinger, Naughty Sweeties City of Glass, as well as many others.

Songs written by Tench and recorded by other artists include "You Little Thief", a top 5 UK and Australian hit for Feargal Sharkey in 1985, (written about his affair with Maria McKee, in response to her song "A Good Heart") and "Never Be You" (co-written with Petty), which became a #1 US Country hit for Rosanne Cash, also in 1985. Tench has received two ASCAP songwriting awards: in 1995 for "Stay Forever" (performed by Hal Ketchum) and in 2001 for "Unbreakable Heart" (performed by Jessica Andrews). This was also recorded by Carlene Carter in the early 1990s. He also wrote songs for Kimmie Rhodes ("Play Me A Memory") and Lone Justice ("Sweet, Sweet Baby (I'm Falling)").

Current activity[link]

In January 2008, Tench became part of a supergroup, initially named The Scrolls now officially known as Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.). The band is composed of Tench, Sean Watkins (guitar), Sara Watkins (fiddle), Glen Phillips (guitar, vocals), Luke Bulla (fiddle), Greg Leisz (various), Pete Thomas (drums), and Davey Faragher (bass). The group released a self-titled album in September 2009.^[8] Tench penned one of the songs on the album, named "The Price," sung by Sara Watkins and himself.

In March 2009, Tench frequently appeared with the Watkins Family Hour at Largo at the Coronet in Los Angeles. He has also appeared at the Largo and at the Fillmore in San Francisco as a special guest with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, and accompanied the Dave Rawlings Machine on part of their west coast tour in spring 2010.

Personal life[link]

In March 1991, Tench married Canadian model Courtney Taylor. They divorced in late 1997. Tench resides in Southern California.

References[link]

Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne performing in concert (March 23, 2008)
Background information
Birth name	Clyde Jackson Browne
Born	(1948-10-09) October 9, 1948 (age 63) Heidelberg, Germany
Genres	Rock, folk, country
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician, political activist
Years active	1966–present
Labels	Elektra, Adrenaline Music Group, Inside, Asylum
Associated acts	Warren Zevon, Eagles, David Lindley, Waddy Wachtel, Bonnie Raitt, Clarence Clemons, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Neil Young , Linda Ronstadt, Joan Baez, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Bruce Springsteen, Little Steven
Website	www.jacksonbrowne.com

Clyde Jackson Browne (born October 9, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone.

Coming to prominence in the 1970s, Browne has written and recorded several notable songs throughout his career including "These Days", "The Pretender", "Running On Empty", "Lawyers in Love", "Doctor My Eyes", "Take It Easy", "For a Rocker", and "Somebody's Baby". In 2004, he was both inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, and bestowed an Honorary Doctorate of Music by Occidental College in Los Angeles, California.^[1]

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Browne was born in Heidelberg, Germany, where his father, an American serviceman, was stationed. Browne's mother, Beatrice Amanda (née Dahl), was a Minnesota native of Norwegian ancestry.^[2] Browne has three siblings: Roberta "Berbie" Browne who was born in 1946 in Nuernberg, Germany (Nuremberg) and Edward Severin Browne who was born in 1949 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. His younger sister, Gracie Browne, was born a number of years later.^[2] Browne moved to the Highland Park district of Los Angeles, California, at the age of 3 and in his teens began singing folk music in local venues like the Ash Grove and The Troubador Club. He attended Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton, California, graduating in 1966.

Songwriter for others[link]

After moving to Greenwich Village, New York, in early 1966, Browne joined the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, performing at the Golden Bear (Huntington Beach, California) where they opened for The Lovin' Spoonful. The band later recorded a number of Browne's songs, including "These Days", "Holding", and "Shadow Dream Song".^[3] Browne also spent a short amount of time in his friend Pamela Polland's band, Gentle Soul. Before Browne's 18th birthday, he became a staff writer for Elektra Records' publishing company, Nina Music, reporting on musical events in New York City with his friends Greg Copeland and Adam Saylor. He spent the remainder of 1967 and 1968 in Greenwich Village, New York, where he backed Tim Buckley and German singer Nico of the Velvet Underground. In 1967 Browne and Nico were romantically linked and he became a significant contributor to her debut album, Chelsea Girl, writing and playing guitar on several of the songs (including "These Days"). After leaving New York City, Browne formed a folk band with Ned Doheny and Jack Wilce, and settled in Southern California.

Browne's first songs, such as "Shadow Dream Song" and "These Days", were recorded by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Tom Rush, Nico, Steve Noonan, Gregg Allman, Joan Baez, the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, the Byrds, and others. Browne did not release his own version of many of these early songs himself until years later.

Classic period[link]

Browne in a 1976 concert in Hamburg, Germany at the microphone with David Lindley, seen partially upstage left playing lap steel guitar in shadow

In 1971, Browne signed with Asylum Records and released Jackson Browne (1972), which included the piano-driven "Doctor My Eyes", which entered the Top Ten in the US singles chart. "Rock Me on the Water", from the same album, also gained considerable radio airplay, while "Jamaica Say You Will" and "Song for Adam" helped establish Browne's reputation. Touring to promote the album, he shared the bill with Linda Ronstadt and Joni Mitchell.

His next album, For Everyman (1973) — while considered of high quality — was less successful than his debut album, although it still sold a million copies.^{[citation needed]} The upbeat "Take It Easy", co-written with The Eagles' Glenn Frey, had already been a major success for that group, while his own recording of "These Days" reflected a sound representing Browne's angst.

Late for the Sky (1974) consolidated Browne's fan base. Browne's work began to demonstrate a reputation for memorable melody, insightful (and often very personal) lyrics, and a talent for his arrangements in composition. It featured a Magritte-inspired cover. Highlights included the title song, the elegiac "For a Dancer," "Before the Deluge" and the often-covered "Fountain of Sorrow." The arrangements featured the violin and guitar of David Lindley, Jai Winding's piano, and the harmonies of Doug Haywood. The title track was also featured in Martin Scorsese's film Taxi Driver. During this period, Browne began his fractious but lifelong professional relationship with singer-songwriter Warren Zevon, mentoring Zevon's first two Asylum albums through the studio as a producer (working closely with Waddy Wachtel and Jorge Calderón).

Browne's character was even more apparent in his next album, The Pretender. It was released during 1976, after the suicide of his first wife, Phyllis Major. The album features production by Jon Landau and a mixture of styles, ranging from the Mariachi-inspired "Linda Paloma" to the country-driven "Your Bright Baby Blues" to the downbeat "Sleep's Dark and Silent Gate". "Here Come Those Tears Again" was cowritten with Nancy Farnsworth, the mother of Browne's wife, after the untimely death of her daughter.

Browne began recording his next LP while on tour, and Running on Empty (1977) became his biggest commercial success. Breaking the usual conventions for a live album, Browne used new material and combined live concert performances with recordings made on buses, in hotel rooms, and back stage.^{[citation needed]} Running on Empty contains many of his most popular songs, such as the title track, "The Road" (written and recorded in 1972 by Danny O'Keefe), "Rosie", and "The Load-Out/Stay" (Browne's send-off to his concert audiences and roadies) although none had been recorded previously.

Activism and music[link]

In spring of 1978 Browne appeared at the site of the Barnwell, South Carolina nuclear reprocessing plant to perform a free concert the night before a civil disobedience action. He did not participate in the action. He likewise performed on the grounds of the Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant construction site in New Hampshire, where 1,414 people were arrested in the course of a multi-day occupation in April 1978;^[4] one of the two reactors at Seabrook were eventually constructed and has operated for over 20 years.

Soon after the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, during March 1979, Browne joined with several musician friends to found the anti-nuclear organization Musicians United for Safe Energy.^[5] He was arrested protesting the Diablo Canyon Power Plant near San Luis Obispo. His next album, Hold Out (1980), was commercially successful — his only Number 1 record on the U.S. pop albums chart. The next year he released the single "Somebody's Baby" from the Fast Times at Ridgemont High soundtrack, which became his biggest hit, peaking at Number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. The 1983 Lawyers in Love followed, signaling a discernible change from the personal to the political in his lyrics. In 1985 he sang a duet with Clarence Clemons in a song called "You're a Friend of Mine".

Political protest came to the fore in Browne's music in the 1986 album, Lives in the Balance, an explicit condemnation of Reaganism and U.S. policy in Central America. Flavored with new instrumental textures, it was a huge success with many Browne fans, though not with mainstream audiences. The title track, "Lives in the Balance", with its Andean pan pipes — and lines like, "There's a shadow on the faces / Of the men who fan the flames / Of the wars that are fought in places / Where we can't even say the names" — was an outcry against U.S.-backed wars in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala. The song was used at several points in the award-winning 1987 PBS documentary, The Secret Government: The Constitution in Crisis, by journalist Bill Moyers, and was part of the soundtrack of Stone's War, a 1986 Miami Vice episode focusing on American involvement in Central America.

During the 1980s, Browne performed frequently at benefit concerts for leftist causes he believed in, including Farm Aid; Amnesty International (making several appearances on the 1986 A Conspiracy of Hope Tour); post-Somoza, revolutionary Nicaragua; and the Christic Institute. The album World in Motion, released during 1989, contains a cover of Steve Van Zandt's "I am a Patriot," a song which he has performed at numerous concerts.

Browne also performed alongside Roy Orbison in A Black and White Night in 1988 along with Bruce Springsteen, k.d. lang and many others. Originally airing on Cinemax, a live album and video recordings were also released.

1990s[link]

In 1993, four years after his previous album, Browne returned with I'm Alive, a critically acclaimed album with a more personal style that did not have any successful singles but still sold respectably — indeed, the ninth track from the album, "Sky Blue and Black", was used during the pilot episode of the situation comedy Friends. In 1994, Browne collaborated with Kathy Mattea to contribute "Rock Me on the Water" to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Country produced by the Red Hot Organization.^[3]

During 1995, he performed in The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True a musical performance of the popular story at Lincoln Center to benefit the Children's Defense Fund. The performance was originally broadcast on Turner Network Television (TNT), and issued on CD and video in 1996. He sang a duet with Jann Arden, "Unloved", on her 1995 album Living Under June. Browne's own album, Looking East (1996), was released soon after, but was not as successful commercially.^[3]

2000 to the present[link]

Browne released his album The Naked Ride Home in 2002, with a performance on Austin City Limits, featuring the recording with older familiar songs.

During 2003, Browne guest-starred as himself in The Simpsons episode "Brake My Wife, Please", performing a parody of his song "Rosie" with lyrics altered to reference the plot involving Homer and Marge.

In 2004, Browne was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Bruce Springsteen gave the induction speech,^[6] commenting to Browne that although the Eagles were inducted first, he said, "You wrote the songs they wished they had written".^{[citation needed]} Browne had written an uncounted number of hit songs that many artists, including the Eagles and Springsteen himself, had recorded over the span of his career. The previous year, three of Browne's albums — For Everyman, Late for the Sky, and The Pretender — had been selected by Rolling Stone magazine as among its choices for the 500 best albums of all time.

Jackson Browne campaigning for Presidential candidate John Edwards at a fundraising event in 2008

A liberal Democrat, Browne appeared in several rallies for presidential candidate Ralph Nader in 2000, singing "I Am a Patriot" and other songs. He participated in the Vote for Change tour during October 2004, playing a series of concerts in American swing states. These concerts were organized by MoveOn.org to mobilize people to vote for John Kerry in the presidential election. Browne appeared with Bonnie Raitt and Keb' Mo', and once with Bruce Springsteen. During late 2006, Browne performed with Michael Stanley and J. D. Souther at a fundraiser for Democratic candidates in Ohio. For the 2008 Presidential Election, he endorsed John Edwards for the Democratic Presidential Nomination and performed at some of Edwards' appearances. After Barack Obama won the Democratic nomination, Browne endorsed him.^[3] Browne also performed briefly at the Occupy Wall Street presence at Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan on December 1, 2011, to show his support for their cause.^{[citation needed]}

Solo Acoustic, Vol. 1, was released in 2005 on Inside Recordings. The album consists of live recordings of 11 previously released tracks and "The Birds of St. Marks", a song that does not appear on any of Browne's studio albums. This album was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2007 in the category of Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album. A live followup album, Solo Acoustic, Vol. 2, was released on March 4, 2008.^[3]

Browne is part of the No Nukes group which is against the expansion of nuclear power. During 2007, the group recorded a music video of a new version of the Buffalo Springfield song "For What It's Worth".^[7][8]

Browne cameoed in the 2007 film, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.^[9]

Browne's studio album, Time the Conqueror, was released September 23, 2008 via Inside Recordings. The album reached the Billboard 200 album chart at #20, which was his first top 20 record since releasing Lawyers in Love in 1983. In addition, the album peaked at #2 on the Billboard Independent Album chart.^[10]

During August 2008, Browne sued John McCain, the Ohio Republican Party, and the Republican National Committee for using his 1977 hit, "Running on Empty", in an attack advertisement against Barack Obama without his permission.^[11] In July 2009, the matter was settled under an undisclosed financial agreement with an apology from the McCain campaign and other parties.^[12]

During August 2008, he appeared on the ALMA Awards in a taped interview honoring Trailblazer Award recipient and long-time friend, Linda Ronstadt.

On 31 May 2008, Jackson Browne performed at the Artist for the Arts Foundation benefit at Barnum Hall, Santa Monica High School, Santa Monica, California. Performing live, alongside Heart, Venice ("Crazy On You") and over 70 members of the Santa Monica High School (SaMoHi) Orchestra and Girls Choir ("Bohemian Rhapsody"), the benefit helped to provide funds for the continuation of music education in public schools. The event was filmed and recorded by Touring Video and Post by On the WAVE Productions. Browne again performed there with Heart and other musician guest stars in 2009.^[13]

In January 2011, Browne won the 10th Annual Independent Music Awards in the Best Live Performance Album category for Love is Strange, performed by himself and David Lindley.^[14]

Browne contributed a cover of Buddy Holly's "True Love Ways" for a 2011 tribute album, Listen to Me: Buddy Holly.

Personal life[link]

Browne and Hannah, 1988

Browne has been married twice and has two children. His first wife was actress/model Phyllis Major (1946–1976). The two began their relationship around 1971, and married in late 1975, as memorialized in the song "Ready or Not". Their son, model/actor Ethan Zane Browne was born in 1973 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and grew up in Los Angeles, CA.^[15] Jackson and six month old Ethan appeared together on the cover of "Rolling Stone" magazine in May 1974. Ethan Browne has worked as a model and had small parts in two movies: Raising Helen and Hackers. Browne was devastated when Major committed suicide by consuming an overdose of sleeping pills just a few months after they married, in March 1976, at the age of 30.

Browne was married in January 1981 to Australian model Lynne Sweeney with whom he had a second son, Ryan Browne, born on January 28, 1982, who has been a bass player and singer in the band Sonny and the Sunsets since 2007.^[16][17] Browne and Sweeney were divorced in 1983, when he began dating actress Daryl Hannah. The relationship with Hannah ended in 1992. It has been said that the song "Not to Blame", by Joni Mitchell, was written about the relationship between Browne and Hannah or, perhaps more likely, inspired by Mitchell's understanding of Browne's relationship with Major, Hannah, and others. He has been with artist and environmental activist Dianna Cohen,^[18] and a co-founding member of the Plastic Pollution Coalition, since the mid 1990s.

Environmental activism[link]

This section requires expansion.

Browne was one of the leaders of the anti-nuclear movement and founded Musicians United for Safe Energy with Bonnie Raitt in 1979. He was also an active member of the Abalone Alliance and the Alliance for Survival.^[5][19] According to environmental activist Ed Begley, Jr., “He’s got this big wind turbine, and his ranch is completely off the [power] grid”, Begley said. “He’s done all of it himself.”^[19][20][21]

Browne campaigns against the unnecessary use of water in plastic bottles and takes steps to reduce usage on his tours. He is part of the movement "Plastic Free Backstage".^[5][22][23]

In April 2008, the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association (SIMA) gave Browne the honor of "Environmentalist of the Year".^[3]

Browne received the Duke LEAF Award for Lifetime Environmental Achievement in the Fine Arts in 2010 for his environmental activism and efforts to make his tours more "green".^[5]

Save Our Shores (SOS), an ocean advocacy group in California, honored Browne with their Ocean Hero Award on February 23, 2011. SOS and mayor of Santa Cruz, CA, Ryan Coonerty, proclaimed the date "Jackson Browne Day" in the City of Santa Cruz to honor Browne's social, environmental and anti-plastic activism, and as a founding member of the Plastic Pollution and an initiator of the REFUSE Disposable Plastics Campaign.^[24]

Browne also attended the TEDx Great Pacific Garbage Patch conference, performing a new song, "If I Could Be Anywhere", which laments mankind's destruction of the earth and giving hope to activism.

Charity[link]

In April 2012 Browne performed for Artists for the Arts (AFTA) benefit along with Glen Phillips of Toad the Wet Sprocket and the band Venice. The benefit was to keep Arts and Music in public schools funded and raised over $100,000.00 at that event. This was Jackson Browne's fifth appearance out of the nine annual shows that have taken place. Harry Rabin of On the Wave Productions produced the show's live HD 12 camera shoot for the benefit. Marty Carrillo MC'd along with Cynthia Fox of KLOS. The band Venice was the main act and performed all supporting music for the guest artists along with a student orchestra and choir from the Santa Monica High and Malibu High school districts. The concert was held at Barnum Hall and was a sold out event.

In 2008, Browne contributed to the album Songs for Tibet, an initiative to support Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, and to publicize the human rights situation in Tibet. The album was issued on August 5 via iTunes and on August 19 in music stores around the world.^[25]

Browne covered John Lennon's "Oh My Love" to benefit Amnesty International's campaign to alleviate the crisis in Darfur. The song appears on the album Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur, which was released on June 12, 2007 and features many other prominent artists performing other John Lennon covers, such as R.E.M., Jack Johnson, U2, Avril Lavigne, Green Day, and The Black Eyed Peas.

Browne performed live and recorded The Beatles song medley "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight" in 1991 with Jennifer Warnes for the charity album For Our Children to benefit the Pediatrics AIDS Foundation. Browne and Warnes again performed it live for the Tucson, AZ benefit concert.^[26]

Browne performed and sang the role of the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True, a 1995 musical performance for charity alongside Roger Daltrey, Natalie Cole, Tim Allen, and other stars. The celebrity cast performed a reader's theatre and songs styled performance of the MGM film The Wizard of Oz"" at the Lincoln Center as a benefit for the Children's Defense Fund. VHS and CD recordings were released of the concert in 1996 by Rhino Records.

Browne covered Lowen & Navarro's "Weight of the World" on Keep The Light Alive: Celebrating The Music of Lowen & Navarro. The proceeds of the album benefit The Eric Lowen Trust, ALS Association Greater Los Angeles, and Augie's Quest.

Browne also held a benefit concert for the Rory David Deutsch Foundation which is dedicated to providing funding for brain tumor research and treatment.

In October 2010 Browne performed at both days of the 24th Annual Bridge School Benefit Concert, a yearly fundraiser established by Neil Young. The Bridge School assists children with severe physical impairments and complex communication needs. Browne also appeared at the 2010 NAMM Conference in Anaheim, California with Yoko Ono and Quincy Jones in support of the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus.^[3]

On March 10, 2011 Jackson Browne with David Crosby, Graham Nash, Alice Cooper, and others performed a benefit concert in Tucson, Arizona benefiting The Fund For Civility, Respect, and Understanding, a foundation that raises awareness about and provides medical prevention and treatment services to people with mental disorders. The concert also benefited victims of the January 8, 2011 shootings in Tucson, AZ.^[27]

Browne has continued to provide exclusive music tracks for various charity and benefit albums including Safety Harbor Kids Holiday Collection (where he sang the Johnny Marks holiday song "Silver and Gold" with longtime friend Lowell George's daughter, Inara George). Browne provided a live version of "Drums of War" for The People Speak Soundtrack. Other charity albums he has contributed to include: Acordes Con Leonard Cohen (song: "A Thousand Kisses Deep"), From Wharf Rats to Lords of the Docks Soundtrack (song: "Step By Step"), Shrink (the Kevin Spacey film Soundtrack) (song: "Here"), Keep the Light Alive: Celebrating the Music of Eric Lowen and Dan Navarro (song: "Weight of the World"), and 1% For The Planet: The Music, Vol. 1 (a live version of "About My Imagination"), as well as many benefit concert and other appearances.^[3]

Awards[link]

On March 14, 2004, Browne was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Bruce Springsteen,^[28] and on June 7, 2007 Jackson Browne was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.^[3] In 2004, Jackson was named an honorary Doctorate of Music by Occidental College in Los Angeles, for "a remarkable musical career that has successfully combined an intensely personal artistry with a broader vision of social justice."^[29] For "promoting peace and justice through his music and his unrelenting support for that which promotes nonviolent solutions to problems both nationally and internationally", Browne received the Courage of Conscience Awards from The Peace Abbey in Sherborn, Massachusetts.^[30] In 2007, he was awarded the Chapin-World Hunger Year Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award.^[29]

In 2008, Browne received the NARM Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award.^[29]

In 2002, Browne was given the John Steinbeck Award, given to artists who are an example of the environmental and social values that Steinbeck believed in.^[29]

Discography[link]

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Bego, Mark (2005), Jackson Browne: His Life and Music, Citadel, ISBN 978-0-8065-2642-3, http://books.google.com/books?id=TSoOOD-MidAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Jackson+Browne:+His+Life+and+Music#v=onepage&q&f=false 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jackson Browne

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Jackson Browne

• Official website
• Wilson & Alroy's reviews of Jackson Browne recordings
• All Music Guide Overview of Jackson Browne, including album reviews
• Jackson Browne at TED Conferences
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Jackson Browne at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Jackson Browne in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

This article's lead section may not adequately summarize its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of the article's key points. (September 2009)

Sean Watkins
Sean Watkins playing with Fiction Family, at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City.
Background information
Birth name	Sean Charles Watkins
Born	(1977-02-18) February 18, 1977 (age 35)
Origin	Vista, California, United States
Genres	Progressive bluegrass, folk, country
Occupations	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Guitar, piano, mandolin, ukulele, bouzouki
Years active	1989–present
Labels	ATO Records Sugar Hill Records
Associated acts	Nickel Creek, Fiction Family, Works Progress Administration, Mutual Admiration Society, Sara Watkins, Switchfoot
Website	seanwatkins.com

Sean Charles Watkins ^[1] (born February 18, 1977) is a guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He is a member of the contemporary folk band Nickel Creek, the duo Fiction Family and the supergroup Works Progress Administration.

Career[link]

Nickel Creek[link]

Sean Watkins began his tenure with Nickel Creek playing mandolin, but later switched to guitar. The band has released three albums and a CD composed of their hits (called Reasons Why: The Very Best) and won a Grammy for This Side -- a coveted trophy that Watkins reportedly put on top of his toilet at home. Explaining the somewhat odd situation, Watkins said that "it seems like a humble place. I didn't want to put it out in plain view of my house. I didn't feel like displaying it right when you walk in. It's a nice crown for the porcelain." ^[2] In addition to playing with Nickel Creek, Watkins has released 3 solo albums and appeared on several others. Of this experience, Watkins has said, "I've learned now to look back to music that has lasted through the years and to appreciate the timeless value that it has."

As a solo musician, his early material was contemporary bluegrass, but he has since incorporated other influences into his music (especially indie rock). Watkins' solo music career seems to reflect Nickel Creek's: turning from traditional bluegrass songs to indie rock with bluegrass instrumentation. He is the oldest member of Nickel Creek. Sean qualified for the National Flatpicking Championship in 1993 at age 16, and "My first instrument was the piano when I was six", Sean recalled. "I took classic instruction for seven years, but three years into that I discovered bluegrass music, through my piano teacher's son, who had a bluegrass band that played every Saturday night at a pizza place in Carlsbad. I really got into it, and when Sara Watkins and I met Chris [Thile], we started playing with him on Saturday nights too."

His sister Sara Watkins, also a member of Nickel Creek, plays violin and sings background vocals on the two latest of his three solo albums. In 2004, Nickel Creek participated in a project dubbed Mutual Admiration Society, a collaboration with former Toad The Wet Sprocket singer Glen Phillips. Sean and Sara are also part of the 2007 soundtrack for the psychological thriller Bug with the track "No Way to Live".

Current projects[link]

In 2006, Sean and Switchfoot member Jon Foreman started a collaborating duo called "The Real SeanJon".^[3][4] In March 2008, the duo announced that they had changed their band name to "Fiction Family". In a spring 2008 interview, Jon Foreman said that the album would have a summer 2008 release and the duo was considering having the album be distributed by Starbucks.^[5] However, a September 2008 press release by Nickel Creek confirmed that the album, Fiction Family, is to be released on January 20, 2009, on ATO Records.^[6]

In January 2008, it was reported by Billboard that a new supergroup octet tentatively named The Scrolls had formed, now known officially as Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.). The octet is composed of Watkins, his sister Sara Watkins (fiddle), Glen Phillips (guitar, vocals), Benmont Tench (piano), Luke Bulla (fiddle), Greg Leisz (various), Pete Thomas (drums), and Davey Faragher (bass). The group released their self-titled debut album on August 28, 2009. As the group continued, the lead singer-songwriters Watkins (Sean), Phillips, and Bulla were considered the core group and were supported by others when their projects made it possible. Bulla is no longer considered part of the group and as of summer 2011, their most recent lineup was Watkins and Phillips supported by Jerry Roe on drums and Sebastian Steinberg on bass guitar.

Sean and sister Sara play regularly at the Largo nightclub in Los Angeles as "The Watkins Family Hour." Keyboard Benmont Tench (of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) and bassist Sebastian Steinberg (formerly of Soul Coughing) are regular participants and other guest musicians from the Largo family generally show up as well, including Jon Brion, Fiona Apple, Don Heffington, Greg Leisz, and former Nickel Creek bandmate Chris Thile when he is in town. Sean has also frequently supported his sister Sara on guitar and vocals for her solo dates since the release of her debut album in April 2009.

In addition, Watkins plans to release what he calls "15 minutes of noise" as a digital download on his website. He said that the final product was "very strange",^[4] and that there would "be some cool art to go with it".^[7]

Discography[link]

Solo[link]

Nickel Creek[link]

Fiction Family[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Sean's website
• Nickel Creek's website
• The Real SeanJon's website
• LAist Interview with Sean Watkins
• Fiction Family Website
• Works Progress Administration website

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (September 2010)

Charles Wayne Sexton (born August 11, 1968) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter best known for the 1985 hit "Beat's So Lonely" and as the guitarist for Bob Dylan's backing band from 1999 to 2002 and since 2009. His style of playing has varied and he has been associated with artists in the blues, folk, rock and punk genres.

Biography[link]

Sexton's mother was 16 years old when she gave birth to him in San Antonio, Texas. When he was four, he and his mother moved to Austin, where clubs such as the Armadillo World Headquarters, Soap Creek Saloon, and more notably the Split Rail and Antone's Blues Club later exposed him to popular music.

After a brief period living outside Austin with his mother, Sexton moved back to Austin at the age of 12.

By the early 1980s, while Charlie and his brother Will Sexton were still young boys, they were both taught how to play guitar by the local Austin legend W. C. Clark, known as the "Godfather of Austin Blues".^[1] With the help of Joe Ely and other local musicians such as Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan, Sexton developed his talents as a musician.

Early successes[link]

In 1983 Sexton (under the name "Guitar Charles Sexton") appeared on a five-song EP by the group Maxwell (a.k.a. the Eager Beaver Boys). Entitled Juvenile Junk, the EP's credits list the following musicians: Maxwell (lead vocals), Charles Sexton (guitars, backup vocals), Alex Buttersworth Napier (bass, backup vocals, maracas), and Gary Muddkatt Smith (drums, backup vocals, claves). Song titles are "Straight As An Arrow", "Don't Cha Know", "Anna Lou", "Back To School Blues", and "Oh Baby Show". All five songs appear on side one (with side two being empty dead space). Old album jackets by groups such as the Flock were turned inside-out and used in the making of the EP's homemade covers. The front side is simply a pasted-on sheet of lined tablet paper with "Maxwell" and "Juvenile Junk" written in crayon; the back side is a pasted-on blue sheet with credits and photos. Juvenile Junk is one of the rarest and most sought after items in Sexton's vinyl discography.

In 1985 Sexton released his debut full-length album, Pictures for Pleasure. Recorded in Los Angeles when he was 16 years old, it yielded the Top 20 hit single, "Beat's So Lonely". Pareles of the New York Times described him as a teen idol singing David Bowie style rock during the years he was promoted by MTV.^[2]

In 1987 Sexton was an occasional opening act for David Bowie on his Glass Spider Tour. Sexton appears on the Glass Spider video playing guitar on Iggy Pop's "I Wanna Be Your Dog" and the Velvet Underground's White Light/White Heat.

While he was still in his late teens, Sexton's skills as a guitar player were in great demand, and he became a popular session player, recording with artists such as Ronnie Wood, Keith Richards, Don Henley, Jimmy Barnes and Bob Dylan. He eventually followed up his debut with the self-titled album Charlie Sexton, recorded at the age of twenty.

Other projects[link]

Charlie Sexton's brother, Will Sexton, on stage at The Saint, in Asbury Park, NJ, April 2012

In 1988 Sexton worked for a time with Will Sexton, his brother.^[3] The band, Will and the Kill, released a 38-minute self-titled album featuring both Sexton and Jimmie Vaughan on tracks. The album was recorded at the Fire Station Studio and produced by Ely and released via MCA Records.

Sexton later contributed songs to various motion picture soundtracks, including True Romance and Air America, and made a cameo fronting a bar band in Thelma & Louise.

In 1992 Sexton, along with Doyle Bramhall II (son of Stevie Ray Vaughan's writing partner Doyle Bramhall), Tommy Shannon, and Chris "Whipper" Layton (both from Double Trouble, Stevie Ray Vaughan's famed rhythm section) formed the Arc Angels.^[2] The blues/rock band recorded and released a self-titled album on Geffen Records that same year. The Steven Van Zandt-produced disc was well-received by fans and critics alike. However, due to internal strife, including lack of communication (all members involved) and drug abuse (Bramhall), the band broke up in less than three years.

Next was the Charlie Sexton Sextet in 1995.^[2] Under The Wishing Tree was released on MCA Records. Although sales were disappointing, it was met with critical acclaim.

In the meantime, Sexton continued to perform with other artists, appearing on such notable albums as Lucinda Williams' Car Wheels on a Gravel Road and Shawn Colvin's Grammy-winning album A Few Small Repairs.

Association with Bob Dylan[link]

In 1999, Sexton was hired by Bob Dylan to replace Bucky Baxter. Sexton had previously played with Dylan during a pair of Austin, Texas, concerts in 1996, and on some demos recorded in the fall of 1983.

Sexton's residency with Dylan from 1999–2002 brought him great exposure, with many critics singling out the interplay between him and Larry Campbell, who was also a guitarist in Dylan's backing band. Hailed as one of Dylan's best bands, the group recorded a number of studio recordings, including Things Have Changed (from the 2000 film Wonder Boys) and 2001's critically acclaimed album, Love and Theft. He also performed and appeared with them in 2003's Masked & Anonymous.

In October 2009, Sexton rejoined Dylan's touring band, replacing Denny Freeman.

Recent activity[link]

In the meantime, Sexton continued working with other artists, producing Double Trouble's Been a Long Time and Lucinda Williams's Essence, both released in 2001. Since first leaving Dylan's band, Sexton has produced numerous other works, including Edie Brickell's Volcano (2003), Jon Dee Graham's Great Battle (2004), Shannon McNally's Geronimo (2005), and Los Super Seven's Heard It on the X (2005). In late 2005, Sexton released his latest album, Cruel and Gentle Things. He has continued his record-producing role for other artists, including 2007's release Wall of Fire by Canadian Peter Elkas.^[4]

In 2002, the Arc Angels began playing occasional "reunion" shows around Austin and Dallas. In 2009, it was announced the band, with original members Layton and Bramhall (but not Shannon), would begin touring extensively — including a stint with Eric Clapton in England — and recording a second album, their first new studio album in 17 years.^[5] He played the guitar and sang alongside Justin Timberlake and Matt Morris, who performed Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" for the Hope For Haiti Now Benefit.

On April 24, Charlie and Will Sexton made a rare appearance as a duo, opening for Roky Erickson and Okkervil River at the Paramount Theatre in Austin. Sexton was also the guest performer for Conan O'Brien's Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour stop in Austin on May 14, 2010.

Most recently, Charlie appeared as a guest guitarist on the band Spoon's performance on the television show Austin City Limits. The episode premiered on PBS on October 9, 2010. Sexton appeared on one song, Who Makes Your Money.

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• Pictures for Pleasure (1985) U.S. #15^[6]
• Charlie Sexton (1989) U.S. #104^[6]
• Under the Wishing Tree (1995)
• Cruel and Gentle Things (2005)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Charlie Sexton on Myspace
• Charlie Sexton collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive