The local group Jackson Pines includes singer-songwriter and guitarist Joe Makoviecki and upright bass player James Black. Formerly members of the traditional folk band known as Thomas Wesley Stern, which opened for popular folk bands like Old Crow Medicine Show and Mumford & Sons, the duo branched off into their own storytelling journey in 2016.
Makoviecki says, “Our old band played traditional folk music. Half of our set would be from the 1920’s and 1930’s. When that band ended, we decided to keep playing music under a new name with totally new songs I’ve written. That became Jackson Pines.”
Named after their hometown of Jackson, NJ, the duo’s work features raw acoustic guitar riffs and evokes a sense of small-town longing.
On their first CD, “Purgatory Road,” the title track tells the story a woman having her first child, and a preacher scared the world is going to end.
Lyrics such as, “In the town where I was born, where the boys run wild, she waited her whole damn life for her firstborn child,” paint an intimate picture.
“I don’t write any songs that don’t have at least one foot in my real experience,” says Makoviecki.
He adds, “Those characters aren’t based exactly on real people, but they’re based on attributes of people we’ve met over the years…Every song is a different animal. They take root from experiences.”
Asked about his songwriting process Makoviecki says “All of our songs exist in a world that we’ve created; sort of like a collection of short stories…We kind of worked them into these characters to try to say something about the world we are living in now.”
Makoviecki notes that folk music has a reputation for preaching a call to change, but that that is not his musical agenda.
“What we are trying to do is sing a song that is honest and makes you feel something deep down, without trying to lead you in a certain direction,” Makoviecki says.
When they first started playing as Jackson Pines in 2016, Black and Makoviecki’s work attracted the attention of Simone Felice of the well known American folk rock band The Felice Brothers. Felice offered to record them on Purgatory Road.
“Joe and James reminded me of my bros and I when we first started out, very green but very passionate,” Felice told the VOICE via email. When asked what intrigued him about the band Felice stated, “The vibe was heartfelt, melancholy yet positive, a tricky thing pull off.”
The duo’s second effort was a four-song EP called “Lost & Found” that came out last August. It picks up where “Purgatory Road” leaves off, focussing on life’s transitions.
Owner of a music-oriented content platform called Thriving Era, Tyler Harrison, recalls his first experience hearing the group.
“The first time I saw Joe and James play was in 2013 or 2012 with their full band Thomas Wesley Stern…Joe is a monster on that acoustic guitar and James Black seems to keep people bumping on that upright bass. Them together is an awesome dynamic.”
This year, Harrison will be filming them in a video he says will be, “up close and personal with the music for Jackson Pines.”
Makoviecki, whose grew up in a musical household–his father is a music teacher and full-time musician–says, “My whole life has been this conversation with music.” He adds, “The difference between everybody else and a songwriter is the only way they can express it is by molding it into a three to five minute song string of rhythm and sound.”
Starting in April, Jackson Pines will be going on a short tour including Nashville, Tennessee and Virginia, before coming back to New Jersey. They will play the Wonder Bar in Asbury Park on May 1.
