My favorite Jersey album last year was Jackson Pines' "Pine Barrens Volume One," the title of which had me and I'm sure a lot of other folks excited about "Volume Two," which dropped earlier this year and was supposed to be part of a combo review with "Wheel," the band's next original studio album. But Jackson Pines have been makin so many waves, they had to postpone the "Wheel" release so here's a review of "PBV2" all by its lonesome.
Like its predecessor, the sequel sequence of old country and folk tunes from the band’s native Pine Barrens was recorded live at bassist James Black’s studio, The Boghouse in the Jackson Pinelands that inspired the band’s name. The record was mixed and mastered by Mike Young (Cranston Dean, Emerson Woolf). Both albums — as well as a third in the works — initially were inspired by a tape made by Pine Barrens greats Merce Ridgway Jr. and The Pine Hawkers, a legacy band founded by father Merce Ridgway Sr. A Reverb Nation stream of the Ridgeway tape sent the band down “a beautiful rabbit hole,” which led to dozens of 50- to 100-year-old folk songs from the Pine Barrens.
In April 2024, the day of the Jersey Earthquake, Jackson Pines convened again at The Boghouse and recorded another eight songs from or inspired by the Pine Barrens repertoires of The Ridgway Family and The Britton Family, as well as songs collected by musicologists Herbert Halpert and Dorothea Dix Lawrence. All three albums will have been made with the permission and cooperation of the Ridgway family.
“Volume Two” opens with a nod to the home studio where the eight-song album was recorded. “Boghouse 1936” is an outtake of an intro to Merce Ridgway Jr.’s “Clam Digger Blues,” the LP’s fifth track. The original opener’s title was inspired by the words carved into the stone landing of Jame’s house, which was built nearly 90 years ago on a former cranberry bog. The brief spooky-sounding intro sets the tone for the rest of the collection beautifully, complete with a cameo by James’ dog Charlie, who was spooked by something in the yard during the recording. Perhaps it was the Jersey Devil.
Merce Ridgway Jr.’s “Ocean County Blues” follows the intro with a pining for the beloved Pine Barrens that he left to retire in West Virginia. Just goes to show that Appalachia ain’t got nothin’ on the Pine Barrens. The lament is the first of a few songs on the LP that share the theme of missing the woods of home.
Merce Ridgway Sr. composed the third track on “PBV2,” the Jersey murder ballad “Julie Jane.” The tune is based on a turn-of-the-century murder Merce heard the tale of as a lad around 1910. In Jackson Pines’ able hands, the reworked tune evolves into bittersweet empathy for the vengeance of a mistreated woman.
A series-required instrumental comes next. “Ong’s Hat” is an Irish-sounding waltz that proves that like Appalachia, the Pine Barrens had a fair share of tunesmiths from the Emerald Isle. Beautifully led by flutist Max Carmichael, the lovely song was inspired by a Burlington County ghost town, which, in turn, had taken its name by an 1800s ladies man who laid down his fancy feathered courting hat to settle along what is now Magnolia Road in Pemberton.
Being the grandson of an old Point Pleasant Beach clam digger — and the son of an old folkie who liked to share the country, folk, bluegrass and roots treasure of Albert Music Hall with me — “Clam Digger’s Blues” is my favorite track on “PBV2.” Merce Jr.’s tribute to his bayman brethren and the life they led on the Barnegat Bay is a stunning piece of Jersey Shore lore. Jackson Pines do such a great job capturing the rolling sounds of the bay with a mellow bouncy beat laid by James and led by mandolinist Cranston Dean’s fine picking, James Herdman’s frisky fiddle, and front man Joe Makoviecki’s rich, husky vocal and harmonica playing.
The band taps into another Merce Jr. tune on “Red Cedar,” a tribute to the Ridgway family’s Lenape heritage, specifically the way red cedars were planted as grave markers before the beautiful Native American way of life was destroyed by “progress.” Jackson Pines give the achingly beautiful, lyrically chilling song all the justice it deserves.
The next tune, “Dover Bog,” has a fascinating story. Inspired by a bog deep in what is now Double Trouble State Park in Bayville, the original tune by Merce Sr.’s Pine Hawkers, a name given to them by Dorothea Dix Lawrence, never actually has been heard by Jackson Pines. Dorothea, a New York City musicologist, included the song in a sheet music anthology that featured folk songs from all 50 states. Jackson Pines’ jazzy version is based on the sheet music that apparently was adapted by Tim Pan Alley arrangers for Dorothea’s book. The band’s shared vocals between Joe, Cranston and Max add to the fun of the all-too-brief number.
“The Pine Barrens Song” closes “PBV2,” which is every bit as good as its predecessor, and even better from a storytelling standpoint reflective of Pinelands cultural heritage. Like his son on “Ocean County Blues,” Merce Sr. pines about his birthplace, but in this case, it was only 5 miles away from where his peach farmer father was forced to move in the wake of a 1920s blight to Bamber Lake, now a part of Lacey Township. So it’s not so much a matter of missing a place as it is a way of life. While the “pine smoke from the fire on the wind,” the “lamplight from the window, one roof schools and country stores” were long gone by the time Merce wrote the song, the scrub pines, ground oak, berry bush and sand not only have remained but are protected by the New Jersey Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan of 1979.
I’m so glad that Jackson Pines resurrect this fantastic music and share it with the world. Their musicology makes New Jersey a better place, one that should be extremely proud of its Pine Barrens heritage.
With that in mind, go see Jackson Pines Oct. 24 when they will be introduced by Angus Gillespie, an American Studies professor at Rutgers University and founder of the New Jersey Folk Festival, in the Mabel Smith Douglass Room of Douglass Library in New Brunswick. The free show is open to the public.
Other upcoming shows include Nov. 8, The Perkins Center, Collingswood, with Valerie Vaughn; Nov. 15, Tin Can, Philadelphia, with The Lower Aetna; Nov. 16, Albert Music Hall 50th Anniversary Celebration, Albert Music Hall, Waretown, with Greater Pinelands Dulcimer Society, James Dalton, Easy As Pie, Doctor Creek Band, and Sawmill Run Old Time String. Band, and Dec. 7, The Ocean County Library LBI Branch, Surf City, another free shoe open to the public.
Jackson Pines recently released a single from a forthcoming deluxe edition reissue of their 2017 debut LP, “Purgatory Road.” The single is a demo version of the LP’s opening track, "Even When I'm Gone.” Featuring 10 original tracks, nine demos and B-sides and a special take on an old favorite with guests, the reissue will be out Dec. 4 on Only One on the Mountain Records. Additional singles will precede the deluxe “Purgatory Road.”
"Wheel" now will be released in 2025. For more, visit https://www.jacksonpines.com.
Bob Makin has produced Makin Waves since 1988. Follow Makin Waves on Facebook and contact Bob at [email protected].
