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Browne enjoying growing success with acoustic records

By KEITH RYAN CARTWRIGHT

PROVIDED

Catch legendary songwriter Jackson Browne on Monday night at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center.

Bigger isn't always better.

After decades of albums produced on a grand scale to the brink of over-production, artists are once again harking back to the albums of yesteryear and championing the days of thought-provoking singer-songwriters.

It could be argued that no artist represented honesty and emotion in defining the genre of songwriting more so than Jackson Browne.

With a critically heralded and commercially successful career born out of his presence in the coffeehouse scene of the late '60s, Browne released his long-awaited self-titled debut in 1972 and almost immediately was noted for having a voice that spoke with "resounding authority."

Two years later, in a profile published in Rolling Stone Magazine, Cameron Crowe wrote about Browne's recurring penchant for writing "song[s] of the retrospection, of a man looking back at the child."

Browne later said of his own early career, "It was my literary period; long form rambling songs in iambic pentameter with the run on philosophical attitude. I was searching bleary-eyed for God in the crowds."

Bleary-eyed no more, Browne has amassed more than three decades worth of material, both written and performed, that represents some of the most literate and moving songs of popular music.

It is with that in mind that Browne has released two albums, "Jackson Browne Solo Acoustic Vol. I" ('05) and "Jackson Browne Solo Acoustic Vol. II" ('08), described by Rolling Stone as "completely stripped of their '70s-era excess production."

Recorded live during a series of shows staged in the U.S., U.K. and Australia during a three-year period, the pair of releases each highlight 12 songs from throughout his career. Featuring minimal instrumentation, Browne alternates between playing his guitar and sitting at a piano, the albums trace Browne's roots back to the mid-'60s.

The recently released "Vol. II" package is in many ways a mirror image of the presentation heard on the Grammy-nominated "Solo Acoustic Vol. I."

The two albums differ in that the first one focuses more on his early material, whereas, aside from three classic cuts "Redneck Friend," "Something Fine" and "Somebody's Baby," the second album is primarily his later work from albums following "Hold Out."

Born in Heidelberg, Germany, to American parents, Browne moved with his family to Los Angeles when he was only three years old. His father, Clyde Jack Browne, was a musician as well and once played alongside Django Reinhardt.

As a result, the younger Browne grew up listening to, and appreciating, jazz music. During his teenage years, however, he developed a rather fond appreciation for then-modern day American poets such as Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell.

At only 16, he wrote "These Days," which would later become a career-defining song for The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

"In a way, I don't choose what I write about," said Browne, in a 1993 interview. "It's a healing thing, a way of confronting what's important in my life at the time."

A decade into his career, Browne's songwriting made a transformation of sorts from a personal romanticism to that of a more noticeable political, social and ecological nature.

Not only were his albums viable and his singles a mainstay on the radio, but he also wrote material for The Byrds, Bonnie Raitt, the Eagles and Gregg Allman.

It wasn't until in 1993 when he released "I'm Alive" that he made what was then thought of as a striking return to the personal and romantic subject matter that characterized albums including "Late for the Sky," "The Pretender," "Running on Empty" and "For Everyman."

During what is clearly becoming a history-making election year for our country, one can only speculate as to the thematic focus of Browne's forthcoming studio album due to be released later this year.

Keith Ryan Cartwright is a Colorado-based freelance entertainment journalist.