Hi there,

Here's a fan in Holland (europe).

I found this site recently.

I'm a fan of Jackson Browne since a long time. I even named my daughter after a song of him: Rosie. I'm curious if anyone can tell me if Jackson Browne is coming to euope to promote his new album?

And if he is; will he come to Holland ( the netherlands) as well?

Saw JB in Reno. By all accounts, he stole the show from Tom Petty (who acknowledged on stage that he was a bit zapped of energy). Jackson actually came on early (thanks to all who posted about the fact that he started on time!). While the seats were fairly empty, as folks staggered in, they did seem attentive and small pockets of obvious hard-core JB fans kept the energy very positive and it seemed as if JB could feel it. At one point, towards the end of his set, several people (me included) were up dancing, some in the middle of the aisle, and in my case, at the end of the row, 1 foot out from my seat. The ushers were absolutely out of control in terms of forcing people back into their seats. Cool, cool Jackson saw it in the middle of his tune (can't remember what he was playing--was having too much fun in the moment) and said: "hey, let the people dance..." Well, that of course brought more people into the aisles and the ushers started it again with renewed vigor. No doubt JB and his fans share a common dislike for authority without purpose, so JB again told the ushers to "sit down" and leave the people alone (the "ushers sit down" I remember exactly...the remainder of the sentence is paraphrased. From that point to the end, which included a WONDERFUL encore of "For a Rocker," it was aisle dancing and fabulous fun for the crowd in the front. Jackson was ending his songs with big jumps--looked like he was having a barrel of fun too. I flew from FL to NV for the concert and based on other reviews, I think I scored big. I think his playing for Tom Petty was a great idea. We fans will of course buy his album and go to his shows, but I suspect that he has regained the attention of lots of folks (including two friends I brought) who knew of him in the 70s and didn't even realize he was still solidly out there. They'll now buy his new albums and go to more concerts.

The following night, I went to see David Lindely and Wally Ingram at a free Reno-on -the River concert. It was a hoot. David Lindley being David Lindley is entertainment any day, but sitting on a blanket with him two feet in front of you singing "Sports Utilitities Suck, Hang Up the Phone and Drive, You blood-clot" was just tooo funny. They sold their own "bootleg" CDs and stayed and autographed them. Nice, mellow guys! David gave JB several plugs and thanked him for giving them free studio time to do the CDs. Wally also thanked JB and said he did a lot for them. Wally was great. If anyone can get out to see one of their shows, it's up close, personal and FUN.

We couldn't attend the concert last night in Sacramento. Heartbreaker, but thanks to your web site i will be waiting for a review of Jackson's opening for Tom Petty. I know it was great how could it not be? Thanks so much for your hard work and great energy! Dee In Sacramento, California

Awesome show tonite of course, and I did not expect anything else. Jackson put on a strong band set of rocking songs. I decided tonite that I prefer him with the band over acoustic. I think I enjoy hearing the songs more the way I was introduced to them on his albums over just him with one guitar. It also reminded me of the first night I ever saw him in concert at Oakdale, CT- in 1996- Looking East tour, when he totally charmed me, altho I was unfamiliar with most of his music except for a few hits I had heard peripherally over the years, as I didn't listen to radio much obviously during the 70's and 80's. I was at the Chronicle Pavillion once before 3 yrs ago for the Sensitive Ones Tour, as we call it. That night, I recall the moon rising and moving across the sky over the Pavillion. Tonite was a warm, moonless night, with some wispy pink clouds and a slight haze, so the stars came out with only the most familiar constellations standing out. The Northern Cross was directly above us. I do prefer lawn seats for that reason, to have the opportunity to watch the sky and also it is nice to stretch out on a blanket and not be stuck in a hard seat with someone's head in my way. I have not seen such a soft green lawn in a while, with fresh cool grass which is very hard to come by here in this drought- ridden California, altho a friend at work tells me "This is not a drought. It is normal for California". To me, a Connecticut Yankee forever, it is a drought if we have had hardly any rain in months. Maybe a couple of drops, max.

The Pavillion is surrounded by the Golden Hills of California {Kate Wolf}, golden with dead grass that is. They are green only in the rainy winter, then it is green as Ireland around here. Concord is east going inland from the cool foggy Bay, the concert site is away from housing developments, almost none are visible actually from the site. I love to go to small venues where I can see the faces of the singers, but there is also a certain thrill about being present at such a large crowd of thousands of enthusiastic fans. It was a sold out crowd tonite, a sea of faces that gave Jackson good attention {well, considering that it was still filling and it was a lawn situation where I was} and he had quite a few fans there, altho it was clear when Tom Petty came on that it was really his audience. I spent half an hr in line to get my backpack of warm clothes for after sundown checked. Next time wear it, don't bring a backpack {mental note} as people without bags walked right in. They did not allow recorders, cameras, glass drinks, or even open bottles of water.

Apparently Jackson did a half hr soundcheck as people filed in and I caught only the last song, Barricades, very sweet notes to me as I walked in. I still found a spot up to the front of the lawn- back enough so that the fence was not in my line of view- the only negative point being a miserable chain smoker sitting near by who made me suffer thru maybe 15 smokes- even tho someone else and I also asked him not to smoke and pointed out the 4 no smoking signs right in front of him. I am like a magnet for these boorish oaf inconsiderate chain smokers- don't get me started- He did a similar set that has been mentioned before. I did not write it down, but quickly off the top of my head I recall Boulevard, Everywhere I go, Culver City, Running On Empty, Pretender, The Night Inside Me, Looking Into You, For A Rocker as an encore and other songs as well. Not much chatting and no stories tonite. A full hr, which after all is more than he ever did at Sedona. {45- 50 min sets there}. He looked great from the distance with a dark shirt and jeans and of course, shiny black hair. The screens were hard to visualize at first until it became dark enough. He seemed to appreciate the audience's response; maybe it was not his audience, but there were still loads of cheers.

Tom Petty put on a great show. He is much more of a showman than Jackson, and surprisingly I was familiar with probably 3/4 of his songs, just from being alive I guess, and also due to my one Greatest Hits album which he seemed to do many songs of. Those hits bring me back to a ski trip in Vermont to Killington I took with my kids in which that album heard steady play for a week since it was common ground for us- way back, maybe early 1990's. I stayed to the bitter end and still was home safe by midnite. I am not crazy about going to concerts alone, but my boyfriend did not want to go and my concert buddy, Paul, could not be talked into going just to see Jackson open- all or nothing for him. Afterwards, my 16 yr old Arielle said she would have gone to see Tom Petty. I wish I had asked her. I never dreamed she would have gone with me. I did find Vivian and Ray, and met Lisa, and had a nice chat with all, and looked for Darice, to no avail. Better alone than not at all- and still a great time was had by all as far as I could tell. Have to get to bed now- The Waifs, from Australia, are in Golden Gate Park tomorrow, Labor Day. Hopefully another great concert day! I love them too, since I saw them at the Kate Wolf Festival last June. Cheers, Dana in Berkeley

Having been a Jackson Browne fan for nearly thirty years, I finally had a chance to see him for the first time live at the AutoWest Amphitheatre in Roseville, CA on 8/31/02. It was a typical warm August evening, and nearly 8,000 people had made the trip, many arriving early to catch his full set. Opening for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Browne played through a terrific selection of material, and set the tone for the Saturday night crowd. He thanked Tom Petty for having him along on the tour and was the perfect opening act. Songs included:

• Boulevard
• Everywhere I Go
• Fountain Of Sorrow
• The Night Inside Me
• The Barricades of Heaven
• Doctor My Eyes
• Culver Moon
• The Pretender
• Running on Empty
• For A Rocker (Encore)

My wife and I just had a great time. For me it was worth the wait as JB is truly a troubadour of the heart and mind. It won't be another thirty years, believe me.

Hi there Russ,

First of all, thank you for such a great website...I really enjoy reading the letters and reviews and keeping up with what's happening with Jackson from time to time. Now I am going to sound like most of the fans that write in to this site...I too, have been a fan for many years...actually I just won an auction on Ebay for a concert poster of the first Jackson concert I ever went to...it was way back in 1978 at Spartan Stadium in San Jose...listen to this line up: Les Dudek, Warren Zevon, Jimmy Buffet and Jackson...and the tickets were $11.50. Nowadays isn't the service charge alone $11.50?

I didn't get to any of Jackson and Tom Petty's concerts here in the San Francisco Bay Area this time around...I was hoping they were going to play at the Shoreline in Mt. View since it's closer to me than the Chronicle Pavilion in Concord, but I was out of luck...I did get to see him in Redwood City in February when he won the John Steinbeck award and did the benefit concert for the Steinbeck foundation...he had a bit of a cold that night which he attributed to being around children who bring home colds and everyone in the house seems to get them...Fairly intimate show, as it sounded like all the acoustic shows were...It's kind of neat to hear his onstage patter, which you don't get too much of when it's a bigger show, although I agree with Danalee from Berkeley that I like Jackson with the band behind him rather than all acoustic. I have to say that it annoyed me a little to have everyone yelling out songs at the same time when it seemed as if he did have a setlist of which he may have wanted to deviate from slightly but not fully...

Anywho, the main reason for this letter is to tell the rest of Jackson's fans of a radio interview he did with a local radio station here in the Bay Area. The station's website is www.kfog.com. I don't know if you can get the whole interview or not. And he also recorded a few songs in KFOG's "playspace" where different artists will come in and sing a couple of tunes. I'm not sure about being able to hear the songs either. Jackson sang his new single, "The Night Inside Me" and "The Barricades of Heaven". Before he sang Barricades, he gave a little explanation about what it was about...First he spoke of San Francisco and what memories he has of it...when he comes here he wonders why he lives in L.A....and about how his sister came up here in 1964 to protest at the Republican National Convention and how she had met a lot of colorful people some of whom came back down to Orange County with her...and enthralled the young Jackson...the next year she moved up here and he came up too, later on, intending to look for a place but ended up staying on David Crosby's houseboat in Sausalito and then went on tour for his first album so he never did find a place to live around here but said in a sense, he was still looking...Then he launches into the song and I start crying...I do that sometimes because when I hear his voice and listen to his lyrics I think of a teenage me...looking for answers to questions and my whole life ahead of me. It doesn't make me cry because I am sad, but because it makes me nostalgic...you know, the good ol' days. I'm sure I'm not the only one, huh?

I hope the rest of you Jackson fans will be able to hear at least the interview, although it's kind of short and hopefully the two songs as well... Thanks again Russ for all your hard work...and can't wait until Sept. 24th!

Hi i am a big fan of jackson and i live in europe I was wondering whenÊhe is comming to holland (Netherlands). Please answere this mail with good news.

Looking(east)forward to hear him sing again in one of our fine theaters! Best regards to Jackson and his familie.

Dear all

Just some news from the Antipodes....I have just discovered that "Naked Ride Home" is to be released here in Australia on 14th of October...already pre-ordered a copy.

Regards

Dear all JB fans,

I have been a JB fan all my life and I'm only 16. I finally got to go see Jackson Browne in Kansas City, KS. I was not by any means disappointed because I didn't even think I would even get a chance to go. I was so hyped up and I had my "Blow me a kiss" sign for Jackson to see...and I was screaming as loud as I could...but I couldn't understand why no one was getting really into his music like I was. I guess its because everyone was there for Tom Petty. My parents and their friends were on the lawn and I had row "g" seats...and they swore that he blew me a kiss in response to my sign. Did anyone who attended that concert witness the kiss??!! Please let me know. I really wish Jackson would have played The Load Out and Farther On. But I am not gonna complain!! Anyway, Jackson is the best and he is so sexy and anyone who doesn't agree can kiss my.......sorry! Anyway thanks!!! please let me know if you witnessed the kiss~! keep his music alive~!~!

Hi, Russ:

First of all, My Girlfriend (Nancy) and I would like to thank you for maintaining such a wonderfully informational Jackson Browne WebSite. It has kept us well-informed, and we have certainly enjoyed the entertainment value provided after a long day at work.

We continue to look forward to all of your updates. We are keeping our fingers crossed that you will soon be announcing a planned Tour Date of Jackson here in the Northwest (WA of OR) to promote his new release of Naked Ride Home.

We thought you would be interested to know that Jackson's release of this new Album (CD) on September 24th also marks the 25th Aniversary Date of his appearance on Saturday Night Live !!

........ Besides yourself, some of your Viewers may be interested in this piece of trivia.

Thanks again !!!!

The summer 2000 edition of Tennessee Lifelines, Volume 4, No. 2 (published by the TN Coalition to Abolish State Killing) had this mention of Jackson:

Jackson Browne continues to give his support for many good causes in the struggle for justice and peace. He came through again when he authorized an information table about the death penalty in Tennessee at a June concert at the Orpheum in Memphis. The TCASK state office arranged this through representatives of Jackson Browne. Jennifer Case and I staffed the table. We handed out newsletters and talked with people. We found most people that (sic) approached the table to be quite receptive. Please support artists like JB (sic) whose new album "The Naked Ride Home" comes out in September.

Another mail from Holland (Europe).

In the DVD "Going home" I saw in an interview that JB was thinking out loud if other countries with other languages would understand his songs.

The fans in Holland herewith invite JB to come (s.a.p.) to see how well we understand his songs! It will be sold out.. promise.

Best regards,

A deluge of strong CD releases floods music shops in September.

Artists leading the way include Peter Gabriel, Jackson Browne, Jazzyfatnastees, Ani DiFranco, Speech, Tom Tom Club, Supreme Beings of Leisure, Steve Earle and Delbert McClinton.

Comeback II: With James Taylor back on the top of the charts, can Jackson Browne be far behind? His tastefully articulated "The Naked Ride Home" is a return to prime form, at turns wryly offbeat (on the title track), pumping with drive-all-night melodic propulsion ("The Night Inside Me" and gospel-scorched "About My Imagination") or aching romantic melencholia (the instant classic "Don't You Want To Be There.") And while Jackson has sometimes been guilty of heavy-handed political/social rants, it's hard to fault the arguments of "Casino Nation," his hard scrapple tale of "Walking Town" or aesthetic commentary on a cold-blooded filmmaker, "Sergio Leone." A-

Saturday night's show at the AutoWest Amphitheatre was a proverbial snapshot of 1979. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers romped through "Refugee," while Jackson Browne, the show's opener, closed his set with the late-1970s hit "Running On Empty.

The ticket price was even more attractive given the solid opening set by Jackson Browne. The singer-songwriter set a punchy musical pace with such favorites as "Doctor My Eyes," "Boulevard" and "For a Rocker." The slide guitars and country-rock feel of "The Night Inside Me," a new song, was also a good primer for Petty's show.

Hi -

If anyone ia attending JB's appearance at Barnes and Noble in NYC on Tuesday, it would be great if you can post the song list. I live nearby but unfortuntely have theatre tickets for that night. Thanks!

The Miami Herald
September 20, 2002 Friday

JACKSON BROWNE
The Naked Ride Home

The Naked Ride Home, in stores Tuesday, is one of Jackson Browne's better post-Running On Empty (1977) efforts. Though not quite as good as 1993's return-to-form I'm Alive, it easily surpasses his last album, 1996's forgettable Looking East.

The timing for this release also couldn't be better. With boomer icons like Bruce Springsteen and James Taylor riding high on the charts, adults starved for eloquent pop music are seeking CDs like this. The Naked Ride Home, with its wry title track, touches on familiar Browne concerns: politics (Casino Nation, a blistering look at a violence-torn nation where entertainment and "the intentional cultivation of a criminal class" has shaped a culture "the way the hammer shapes the hand"); commentary (Sergio Leone, a critical look at the film director who made The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly) and, of course, melancholic matters of the heart (Don't You Want to Be There -- almost assuredly the one track the singer-songwriter's earliest fans will welcome heartily).

At 53, Browne can be feistier than he was in his heyday late-20s. Electric guitars, rather than piano, are the lead instruments. The title track, The Night Inside Me (the first single) and About My Imagination chug along with crisp, tight rock accompaniment from the backing band he's been working with for the past decade. But it's the mid-tempo cuts Sergio Leone, Casino Nation and the gospel-touched Don't You Want to Be There that leave a richer, deeper impression.

HOWARD COHEN hcohen@herald.com

The Buffalo News
September 20, 2002

Jackson Browne - The Naked Ride Home
***1/2

On his first album in six years, trustworthy troubadour and chronicler of the shadowy places in the human heart Jackson Browne reminds us of what has long been missing from popular music: songs, man. Winning melodies, strong arrangements and thoughtful, reflective lyrics.

Browne is a master of the form, as he's proven throughout his 30-year career. "The Naked Ride Home" finds him at the top of his game, blending such antiquated concepts as self-examination, empathetic reflection and engagement with the world "out there" - political, physical, spiritual - into a wholly compelling collection of songs.

As ever, Browne blends folk-based constructions with elements of subtle world-beat, rock 'n' roll and singer-songwriter balladry. It's a sound he has been refining since the beginning of his career, and rather than reinvent it here, he digs deeper into it, reveling in the subtleties of dynamic shading and the beauty of simplicity in song.

And what songs these are. The title track gets things off to a warm and inviting start as Browne delivers another in a long line of instantly memorable melodies and a lyric that details the unknowability of the other in love relationships. A recounting of a trip on the freeway in which the narrator's companion removes her clothes on a dare, Browne, as is his wont, sees the poetic underbelly of the act. "On that freeway the light was receding/Her, beauty,a sight so misleading/I failed to hear the heart that was beating alone," he sings, and what initially appeared to be a nude joyride becomes bittersweet rumination. "Casino Nation" reveals another of Browne's strong suits - his ability to bear witness to what he has long held to be the degradation of America by those in power. "Out beyond the Ethernet the spectrum spreads/DC to daylight, the cowboy mogul rides/Never worry where the gold for all this glory's gonna come from/Get along little doggies, it's coming out of your hides." In a recent interview with Reuters, Browne commented on this song by decrying an America "hijacked by the right wing ... (who have) made use of adversarial conditions in the world to advance their agenda." That should help clarify the object of Browne's wrath in "Casino Nation," should clarification be necessary.

Browne's genius lies in his abilities to chronicle the moments of a life lived - the glory of revelations, the pain of failures, the gifts of honest love and the transient nature of such things - and "The Naked Ride Home" finds him in full command of his powers.

- Jeff Miers

Dallas Morning News
September 21, 2002

http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/stories/092102dnartjackson.3971.html

Jackson Browne is singing a new tune
By MICHAEL GRANBERRY / The Dallas Morning News

Nine years ago, the currents in Jackson Browne's life began to change.

Fate opened the door to a new woman and a new band, whose energy infuses the spirit of a daring new album. New, that is, for a singer-songwriter whose debut came six months before the Watergate break-in - way back in 1972.

The Naked Ride Home is Mr. Browne's 13th and possibly final album with Elektra Records. It hits the stores on Tuesday.

"The sweetest thing is to wake up from a period of intense work and realize that, what you have here, you've never heard before - and you love it," says Mr. Browne, whose youthful looks belie the fact that he was born in 1948. "Believe me, that's a feeling that sustains you and carries you and takes you forward for quite a ways."

Among its surprises is a new type of ballad. Rather than songs about loss, The Naked Ride Home features four hopeful, grateful, musically charged numbers that stand as a testament to what he calls "being in a real, good, long, strong, healthy relationship."

A new love and a new band have revitalized Jackson Browne, leading him to write some of the more positive love songs of his career.

In other words, Jackson Browne is happy.

He says the turnaround came in 1993, which marked the release of one of his best albums - I'm Alive - and a string of remarkable introductions. The liner notes to The Naked Ride Home offer "special thanks to Dianna Cohen," who apparently inspired a new set of goals.

"To write a really affirmative song about love has always been an elusive quest for me," says Mr. Browne, whose ballads have helped darken the mood in such movies as Taxi Driver and Mr. Holland's Opus . "I find it easier to talk about what's over ... long after it's over."

The "over" approach proved endlessly fertile, leading to such knockout ballads as "Late for the Sky," "Fountain of Sorrow" and "Sky Blue and Black." But as much as a new woman has affected his growth as a human being, the relationship with the band, he says, has molded his growth as an artist.

"Those guys just groove," he says with a laugh, "and they groove whether you're playing the simplest thing in the world or something that is more obviously grooveworthy. They do it ... it just happens in them."

The "artists providing the palette" are bass player Kevin McCormick, co-producer with Mr. Browne; guitarist Mark Goldenberg; organist and singer Jeff Young; and drummer Mauricio "Fritz" Lewak, who has known and played with Mr. McCormick since high school.

The album contains a tribute to Italian film director Sergio Leone, whose "spaghetti" westerns made Clint Eastwood a household name. But its best nugget may be "Don't You Want to Be There," which has the feeling of a lyrical Protestant hymn, replete with trumpets and the churchlike choir of Alethea Mills, Jimmy Burney and Chavonne Morris.

Just as he did on his last album of entirely new material - Looking East, in 1996 - Mr. Browne shares songwriting credit with the band on most of The Naked Ride Home. He plans to take it to Texas Oct. 9 - his 54th birthday - to tape a Nov. 16 airing of Austin City Limits.

They also plan at least one more concert date - Nov. 2 in Phoenix - with Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, with whom he and the band spent most of the summer touring.

Unlike the wild days of 1977, when Mr. Browne released a live album of new material - the seven-times platinum Running on Empty - The Naked Ride Home was assembled by a band of married men who prefer taking wives and children on the road. Running on Empty continues to have a life of its own. Later this year, Mr. Browne plans to release a Dolby Digital 5.1 "Surround Sound" DVD of Running on Empty, complete with hundreds of photographs from the mid-'70s tour on which it was based.

As for the company that recorded it, Mr. Browne isn't fully sure he's reached the end of that relationship.

The Naked Ride Home is the last album he's committed to give Elektra, "and I don't think either one of us wants to continue if we don't reach a certain kind of success with this album. It could be argued that there may be better labels for recording my genre of music ... whatever that is," he says with a laugh. "They're doing a good job. They're doing the job I want them to do.

"At this point, I'm their longest-standing artist. I've been there longer than any of them, but there's a danger in that. You can become some sort of an artifact. That is, if you don't create something new."

Which, in every possible way, The Naked Ride Home manages to be.

Los Angeles Times
September 22, 2002

JACKSON BROWNE "The Naked Ride Home"

Browne watchers have had to find their rewards where they can since those days in the '70s when the quintessential L.A. singer-songwriter put out album after album brimming with eloquent songs from and to the human heart.

His first new album in six years (due Tuesday) provides one of those rewards in the title song, a rumination on the difference between outer and inner beauty as moving and finely crafted as the best songs from his "For Everyman" and "Late for the Sky" artistic peak.

It's followed by the first single, "The Night Inside Me," a strong rocker about the ongoing struggle to live an authentic life. Then the album nose-dives into the clumsy geopolitics that have been the bane of his albums for two decades.

As much as he yearns to be Bob Dylan, Browne has rarely been able to make his views on the world situation personally compelling. He doesn't come close in "Casino Nation" or "Walking Town," which miss by a country mile the difference between one person struggling to map out his place in the world (as he once did in "The Pretender") and lecturing others about theirs.

Things turn around again at album's end with the meditative rock-gospel number, "Don't You Want to Be There," benefiting from Daniel Lanois-like production atmospherics, and the closing treatise on unexpectedly finding new love, "My Stunning Mystery Companion."

--Randy Lewis

Rolling Stone
from http://www.rollingstone.com/news/newsarticle.asp?nid=16742

Jackson Browne The Naked Ride Home (Elektra)

The ultimate Los Angeles songwriter rides on from the cool romanticism of 1993's I'm Alive to the textured ruminations of 1996's Looking East, Jackson Browne has explored, with a sense of flash that answers only to itself, just how far a polished singer-songwriter can go. The Naked Ride Home stays in this noble tradition.

Looser, warmer and more live-sounding than Browne's recent work -- yet still as passionately crafted and sung -- the songs take on domestic mysteries (the title drama) and political realities ("Casino Nation") with a varied midtempo dependability that turns richer and more resonant upon re-listenings. "For Taking the Trouble" and "About My Imagination" integrate reggae and soul so unobtrusively that the music mirrors exactly the precise casualness of Browne's voice -- he is the sound of unfrantic L.A. cool engaged with the long view. (JAMES HUNTER)

The Music Box
November 2002, Volume 9, #11

Jackson Browne - The Naked Ride Home (Elektra)

http://www.musicbox-online.com/jb-ride.html

Written by John Metzger

It's been a long time since Jackson Browne has released an album anywhere near as good as The Naked Ride Home. In fact, his latest release very well may prove to be the best of his career. That's saying something, too, considering that in the '70s Browne recorded several monumentally beautiful (and brutally honest) masterpieces such as For Everyman, Late for the Sky, and Running on Empty. Indeed, in the past two decades Browne has penned a number of good songs -- as well as some that fared better and some that fared worse -- but more often than not, the music that surrounded his words left the albums feeling just a tad confining. Only his 1993 set I'm Alive truly came close to recapturing the magic of his '70s output, but the subsequent Looking East sounded like leftovers from the same recording sessions.

That's why The Naked Ride Home is such a pleasant surprise. For starters, it wraps Browne's eloquent lyrics in the same type of unfettered arrangements and organic melodies that made Late for the Sky and For Everyman such classics. But more than thirty years after first venturing onto the music scene, he manages to find a fresh way to parlay his poetic words on love, loss, and the world at large into things of beauty without completely forsaking his past. Never Stop embraces an ebullient R&B euphony; Walking Town delves into a funk motif; Don't You Want to Be There plays like a sequel to Browne's epic Before the Deluge, complete with gospel harmonies; and For Taking the Trouble traverses an effortless, airy reggae groove, borrowing a phrase from Iko Iko and succeeding musically where much of World in Motion failed.

Throughout The Naked Ride Home, Browne allows each song to fully develop at its own leisure. Though more than half the tunes stretch far past the five-minute mark, none overstay their welcome. Song introductions and conclusions -- such as the joy/sorrow duality of the title track, the haunted spaces of Sergio Leone, and Casino Nation's ominously bass-heavy indictment of America's celebrity cultureÊ-- are extended in ways that allow the melodies to blossom and bloom, slowly revealing each nuance with the utmost deliberation. Indeed, each musical interlude provides the perfect opportunity to ponder Browne's words. Be it social commentary or personal reflection, the songs on The Naked Ride Home follow a central theme of the loss of innocence, while mixing equal parts of hope and sorrow to form a sequence that strives for and reaches transcendence.

Copyright 2002 The Music Box

[Regarding the Los Angeles Times review of Jackson Browne's new album:]

picking myself up off the floor, i am sure jackson is as delighted as i am amused regarding the review...imagine being so good, yet so wrong; from "as moving and finely crafted as the best songs from For Everyman and Late for the Sky, to "the album nose-dives into the clumsy geopolitics..." well so it goes, guess you just can't please all the people...and after all, in this time of warm gushy patriotism who does jackson think he is, speaking truth to power, for cryin' out loud; to think just how really popular he'd be if he just kept his mouth shut! but hey, jackson is so concerned about cashing in, he just GAVE his record away to all his fans through his newsletter...btw, thanks jackson

Hi,

My best friend and I have been huge Jackson fans since we were about 13 - okay so that's only been 10 years but we are devoted :). Last week my best friend had her car broken into and all of her cds were stolen including 12 Jackson albums. As we are soon to be roommates she was consoled by the idea that she could enjoy my collection (and the upcoming album) until she could replace the cds. In some sick twist of fate this past weekend my car was broken into and all of my cds were stolen including 11 Jackson albums (Late for the Sky is stuck in my cd player the thieves destroyed but were unable to steal). To make a long sob story short we are eager to replace the cds. It would be infinitely easier and perhaps cheaper if a box set was available. I have been unable to find out if one exits or will be released. Any info regarding this? Thanks so much!

hi russ

i have just discovered the music of jackson browne, love your site. best regards

Undercover Media (Australia)
November 2002

JACKSON BROWNE : The Naked Ride Home

http://www.undercover.com.au/urjacksonbrownethenakedridehome.html

Written by Hector the Rock Dog

Jackson Browne is hardly prolific. He goes years in between albums. Since 1972, he has only released a dozen. In fact, The Naked Ride home is only his third album in 12 years.

Kevin McCormick doesn't fiddle at all with the Browne formula. Although he is better known for his production work with Melissa Etheridge, McCormick has been working on Jackson Browne albums since 1986's Lives In The Balance. On the first two tracks it feels like McCormick is trying to replicate the past. The title track is exceptional Jackson Browne and reminiscent of the sound of his classic The Pretender. It's been a long time since I've heard Jackson Browne sound so much like Jackson Browne.

Even lyrically, he is back in form "Just take off your clothes and I'll drive you home myself / knowing she never could pass on a dare" are the opening lines of the album. Browne's ability to paint an image with words have not been lost.

The Night Inside Me is the single off the record. This is rhythmic commercial Browne with the appeal of his biggest chart hit Lawyers In Love.

For Casino Nation, McCormick has directed Browne to that mid 80s style of Lives In The Balance with the haunting guitar and dark melody.

Fans would be fully aware of the depth of the Browne style. As you go through the album you'll be reminded not only of his various styles but also the various eras. For Taking The Trouble flashed Linda Paloma off The Pretender to me. It's a great thing that these artists who were the superstars of the 70s are comfortable with the sound that made them famous originally. James Taylor has just done the same thing with his October Road album.

One thing you do expect with a Jackson Browne album is musicianship. The bluesy Walking Town features some stunning studio work. About My Imagination has some beautiful Hammond organ and tasty lead guitar reminding us of the brilliant work that used to come out of LA through the 70s. That quality continues on Sergio Leone, the softest moment on the record. The song builds with a 1:52 intro setting the mood for the storyline with Spanish guitar.

Again Don't You Want To Be There and My Stunning Mystery Companion don't tamper with what ain't broke. The result is Jackson Browne delivers his best album in nearly two decades with The Naked Ride Home.

BPI Entertainment News Wire
September 23, 2002

Politics, love get equal billing on Jackson Browne's new Elektraset

By MELINDA NEWMAN, Billboard

Open an album with the provocative line "Just take off your clothes and I'll drive you home" and you're bound to raise a few eyebrows. "Everyone's been naked in a car at one time or another, right?" laughs Jackson Browne, referencing "The Naked Ride Home," the title track that kick-starts his first studio album in six years.

He continues, "It's a pleasure, though, to sort of grab people in what they presume is going to be a lascivious story and take them to what I think is at the heart of all human activity: a desperation for something to work out better than it ever works out."

Such themes as desire and forgiveness dominate the project, due Tuesday from Elektra. On "The Naked Ride Home," the search for love shares equal space with commentary on social ills, whereas some of Browne's past works have been heavily weighted one way or the other. Browne says, "It's more integrated than the other albums have been."

Co-produced with Kevin McCormick, the album finds Browne in a tremendously collaborative mood. Usually a solo songwriter, he took his band into his Los Angeles studio with germs of ideas and, in some cases, crafted the songs around their musical inventions.

"I had a period of time writing this stuff acoustically, and then when I went to play with them, it was like the sun coming over the mountain," Browne recalls. "The band became the artist and the artist became the producer."

While he is credited as the album's sole lyricist, his bandmates share music credits on many of the compositions.

Some tracks, such as social satire "Casino Nation," remain pure Browne. The song takes a cynical look at, among other things, corporate greed and reality TV. "Anybody who can't get on TV must really not be trying, because obviously they have something for everybody," he says.

Conversely, first single "The Night Inside Me," about the periodic need to get away from one's own life, looks inward rather than outward.

"It was a hard song to finish, mainly because if you're describing the need to leave this world, the need to escape the mundane sort of responsibilities, I'm someone who has willingly taken on my responsibilities," Browne says. "Other people like to book time in a studio -- I have to build a studio, you know? But the fact is everybody needs to get out, to get away."

On the TV side, Browne will appear on "Today" Sept. 27, "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" Oct. 2, and a November episode of "Austin City Limits."

"The Naked Ride Home" marks the end of Browne's current contract with Elektra, for whom he's recorded for the duration of his career (first under the Asylum/Elektra banner). But he says it's too soon to say the Elektra chapter is closed.

"They were going to let me out of my contract for the last record, because the last album I gave them didn't sell very well. But I began to get a pretty good feeling about this record awhile back, and I started thinking, 'You know what? I think if I give them a really great record, they'd be a great company,' and that's why I proceeded," he says. "Just because this is the last record I owe them on this contract doesn't mean this will be the last record I make for Elektra."

hey, russ..

i live in longview, texas...got off work at 11pm last night...was scouring out wal-mart for a coffee pot..(something a lot of us can't live without). i passed the music section and they were putting new releases on the shelf..this was at approx. 12:01 midnight; (9-24) and i remembered jackson's new album was due out today...they dug around in the box and handed it to me...when i got home and put my headphones on, i found that the coffee pot wasn't the only thing i couldn't live without...THS IS JACKSON'S BEST ALBUM SINCE RUNNING ON EMPTY.. and that's saying a lot...i loved I'M ALIVE and LOOKING EAST....not to mention a few of the others...(i have them all...) but i think on this album, we're hearing a return to true happiness, and introspection for jackson..and i'm glad for him. i just don't see how someone so busy w/ benefits,etc. was able to find the time to do this laid back, spiritual, and wonderfully written album...but, then again, we've seen the near-impossible from him before....my favorites were the wry title track, (the naked ride home), the rockin' (night inside me), and the deeply spiritual (don't you want to be there)...russ, i'll be watching your site for appearances of jackson in my area...(either shreveport or dallas) it'll be the 7th time i've seen him live....(the last was his acoustic show in shreveport, where the audience nearly blew the roof off the strand theatre there...). again, thanks to jackson for doing it AGAIN...and to you, russ, for all your good work, too... in the meantime, i'll be the happy idiot, in the struggle for the legal tender...i have a new coffee pot and a new jackson album, and life for now, is complete....

moving farther on,

Hello Everyone-

Thank You for the posts on the reviews for the new album. I was so excited to get Jacksons new album on Tuesday. It is great! He seems to be lighthearted and very happy in content.(but there are a few heavies) Very great songs (you know Jackson) I cant wait for the tour. Please say you will Jackson!!!! I appriciate the hard work and time it takes to run the site Thank You!!!

I thought you might enjoy this page I put up after seeing Jackson last night. www.howlingdogstudios.com/jackson_browne. Keep up the great work with the site.

Best Regards,

I picked up the new CD yesterday,on the way to the golf course.I got home later in the evening.I played the Naked Ride home till 3.30 this morning.I love the album,but the trouble is ,Im' in the "Doghouse".My phones didn't work,so I had the stereo goin'till 3.3.0.I got up this morning for work,looked in the mirror,I had eyes that looked "insane",I was so sleepy.So ,there ya go Jackson,you got me in trouble(again).I really don't care,it was a lot of fun.I'm goin'for a little car ride,right now,matter of fact,to listen to more! This should be a great album for Jackson,possibly platinum.

Just wanted to write to say that Jackson Browne's latest effort is a very present and cathartic piece of work. Although usually, he makes us wait 3 years. This takes the cake in methods of modern torture. Thank god James Taylor and Van Morrison are having second winds. They were able to hold me over for a while; but it has just been a placebo. Take notice Jackson, we need your music like we need water in a desert. Especially with "The cowboy mogul on the Ride.". Like all of my favorite Jackson Browne Albums, this one has great opening and closing tracks. Reminds me of "The Pretender" and " Late For The Sky" in that manner. Everytime I'm about to get intellectually lazy, I have a Jackson Browne Album to wake me up. Best Thing that ever came out of Orange County. Still don't know how. Well I think I'll go Cruising the 101 with my new CD.

Sincerely,

Billboard Magazine
October 05, 2002

JACKSON BROWNE - The Naked Ride Home
Producer(s): Jackson Browne, Kevin McCormick
Label/Catalog Number: Elektra 62793

At a time when veteran artists are either lying dormant or scrambling to cook up youth-driven ideas, Jackson Browne is simply chugging along, writing and recording the kind of songs that have long been his signature. There are no scratch beats or production tricks courtesy of Fred Durst, nor are there incongruous remixes featuring Ashanti or Nelly. Such a move might lessen Browne's mainstream visibility, given today's current sales climate. But it also keeps his dignity and creative legacy intact, which is far more important in the long run. The Naked Ride Home is precisely what we need from Browne right nowÑor any other time, for that matter. He provides intricately drawn, often poetic pop-rock tunes that examine matters of the heart, the human condition, and the world at large. He assumes his listeners are capable of thought and emotion beyond "ooh-baby-baby" sentiments, and he seems to demand a willingness to consume arrangements that lean on good ol' fashioned piano/guitar/drums arrangements. If only a few more artists would take such a stand. -LF

It's been quite a while since I've posted here!

But this was the first site I went to when I began cruising the net, and the one that helped me figure out all the other Jackson stuff on the web, thanks so very much Russ.

So, it's only right that I post my thoughts about the new album here.

Honestly, at first, I was feeling disappointed. But then I heard the last two tracks and realized that these were gems indeed!

I'm pretty durn confident that like some of the others that I might not have liked so well at first, this album will become a treasure.

Thanks again Russ, you are a gem!

And thank you, Jackson. :^)

Entertainment Weekly
October 4, 2002

MUSIC/THE WEEK

JACKSON BROWNE The Naked Ride Home (Elektra) In the mid-'70s, Browne excelled at expressing innocence lost with semiautobiographical lyrics and catchy melodies. Later, he lost his engaging vulnerability amid fussier arrangements and political activism. His first new CD in six years succeeds when he sticks to the earlier style--which has evolved into world-weary narratives--but his message songs tend to meander. An intriguing oddity is the atmospheric paean to spaghetti-Western maestro Sergio Leone. B --Holly George-Warren

The Straits Times (Singapore)
September 27, 2002 Friday

Jackson Browne (Elektra) *** 1/2

ONE of the few survivors from the 1970s singer-songwriter movement, Jackson Browne deserves a medal for resilience.

The strategy, one presumes, is to stick to what one knows best, and ignore what the rest of the trend obsessed world is up to.

The Naked Ride Home, his umpteenth album in three decades, works the same template. Against a backdrop of folk-rock elegance, he takes us through Americana in his own trusty vehicle proffering songs of social conscience and personal strife.

True, it may get a little dull for the youth of today, but listen to the years of wisdom in his voice.

Whether singing about that special someone loved and lost (The Night Inside Me, Never Stop) or casting an eye over big global issues (Casino Nation), the understated Browne comes across as a quieter Springsteen for the shy man at the corner.

The Scotsman
September 27, 2002

BROWNE WON'T LET BUSH TAKE IT EASY

Kate Smith

WITH George Bush apparently ever more determined to visit war upon Iraq, it's no surprise that the singer-songwriter Jackson Browne finds himself a dove among hawks once again. Often credited with defining the personal-political song genre in the 1970s, Browne was a huge act during that decade. He played a pivotal role in anti-nuclear concerts, and later campaigned against American foreign policy in Nicaragua.

Now back in the public eye to promote his first album in six years, Naked Ride Home, he is inevitably being asked what he thinks of it all.

"9/11 was a terrible deed, but I can't join in the congratulatory flag-waving either," he says. "If you criticise national policy in the States you are seen as being disloyal, yet our true enemies are the endemic injustices of poverty, disease, intolerance, greed and the lust for power.

"We need to say that we all want to address these and we need avenues for expressions of this. America is not the best tower of democracy. If you look at how US policy is being portrayed in the media, I want to say that the rest of the world doesn't hate us for our freedoms, it's the licence we take with our freedom, politically intervening in other countries' autonomy."

Some of Naked Ride Home's lyrics seem to touch on 11 September. On Casino Nation Browne sings of America as "a weapons-producing nation under Jesus "where "camera crews search for clues amongst the detritus and entertainment shapes the land like the hammer shapes the hand." He believes it is healthy that artists should be inspired by the subject. "If it's true there is a new creativity coming out of the States since 9/11," he says, "then what I'm saying is America shouldn't miss this chance to be closer to the rest of the world."

While Naked Ride Home engages in politics, however, it also shows Browne's trademark introspection at its best. It's an album about middle age, letting go, reviewing expectations, getting older and banishing the ghosts of the past.

What took him so long to make it? "Although I was working with the band over the last six years and I was starting songs, I wasn't finishing them," he says. "I was dealing with an illness in my family. I was exploring new ways of working with the band, though, and when I was back writing complete songs again I would read them back and say 'so that's what I was thinking ...' There are truths that elude the conscious self, and while something might sound true, the truth inside might be different. Songwriting is like constructing in the dark."

If Jackson Browne feels like a voyeur on his own work, though, the songs on Naked Ride Home are nevertheless intimate and honest. While much of the sound will be familiar to fans, Browne is still evolving as a songwriter; he experiments with reggae on For Taking The Trouble and there is a nod to Stevie Wonder's riff from Superstition that works well in Walking Town, a simple but affecting song about how, when everybody drives instead, they don't have to look at people who don't have the choice. "Comfort speeding," Browne calls it. "Walking Town, I wrote to say, 'walk in somebody else's shoes', meaning you pay for the way you go.

"Look at the disparity in wealth. That guy who stands on the sidewalk whilst the affluent cars stream by, he's got the superior vantage point, yet 'the glances never meet his eye'. Where is the justice in that?"

Browne may have found new topics to write about, but he's still writing about old injustices too.