Jackson Pines have been my favorite Jersey band for a few years now. They keep gettin’ better and makin more waves so that’s gonna last for a while and hopefully long enough for Jackson Pines to turn the next generation onto their multi-generational sound that spans the American spawn of Afro-Celtic roots music, especially from their native Pine Barrens. They will have won this year’s Makin Waves Band of the Year and Album of the Year awards — the latter for the second year in a row — when the Makin Waves Awards are announced around Christmas.
Jackson Pines have won a bunch of other Makin Waves Awards over the years, including Best Bassist several times, Best Instrumentalist, Song of the Year and Best Live Act. But this is the first time they’ve won Band of the Year based on the strength of “Pine Barrens Volume Two,” their second mining of Pine Barrens musical gold; the deluxe reissue of their 2017 debut LP, “Purgatory Road,” several singles and the extensive touring in support of all.
I am so glad that Jackson Pines resurrect the fantastic music of their native Jersey Pine Barrens and share it with the world. Their musicology within “Pine Barrens” album series — a third is on the way in late 2025 — makes New Jersey a better place, one that should be extremely proud of its Pine Barrens cultural heritage. And I’m so glad the Only One On The Mountain record label repackaged and reissued the debut LP for more people to hear.
I chatted with co-founding singer-songwriter-guitarist-harmonicist Joe Makoviecki on behalf of co-founding bassist James Black and newer full band mates Cranston Dean (drums, mandolin), Max Carmichael (banjo, mandolin, flute, National guitar), and James Herdman (fiddle, ukulele).
We discussed the rich influence Joe’s and James’ Pine Barrens roots have had on Jackson Pines and the equally amazing year that lies in wait in 2025.
How does ‘Pine Barrens Volume Two’ compare to ‘Volume One’?
The band is exactly the same, as is the place we recorded it, The Boghouse in Jackson. The same five musicians, standing in a circle around some mics, just playing seven different songs.
What’s different is this time a producer from Maine, Mike Young (Cranston Dean, Emerson Woolf), brought some of his gear down and combined it with ours to bring this one to life. He mixed and mastered it.
This volume explores different parts of the repertoire, including a New Jersey murder ballad, a Barnegat Bay clammer's song, a few about missing where you grew up, and one remembered by ‘Uncle’ Bill Britton called ‘Dover Bog.’ He was another member of the original Pinehawkers and later The Pineconers. The Dover Bog was an area in what is now a densely wooded part of Double Trouble Park.
The first volume had a fiddle tune from James Herdman’s tradition. This one has an instrumental I wrote called “Ong’s Hat,” based on the old Burlington County folktale.
How and why did ‘Volume Two’ bring you full circle in getting to work with Angus Gillespie, the Rutgers professor and New Jersey Folk Festival founder who originally recorded many of the songs featured in the album series?
Without Dr. Gillespie, there would be no ‘Pine Barrens Vol. 1 or 2’ because he thought to record Merce Ridgway and the Pinehawkers in 1986. If he hadn’t, most of their family repertoire would have been lost to time. Some of it would’ve survived, through Merce’s YouTube channel, but we would’ve never been able to learn so many songs in so much detail.
After headlining the 2023 New Jersey Folk Festival, we were contacted by Professor Maria Kennedy from Rutgers, inviting us to be part of an Artist Experience program the American Studies Department runs. So, we taught a class with her and performed a concert in the evening this past October. What I didn’t know when we accepted is that Dr. Gillespie, who we had never met until that day, was going to speak before our show and introduce us. It was a very special experience. There were tears in his eyes as he heard some of these songs brought to life for the first time in over 20 years.
He gifted James and I copies of an article he wrote about Pine Barrens folk music history in 1978, and it has already answered so many of my questions. It has already determined two of the songs on ‘Pine Barrens Vol. 3.’
Do you know if you’ll work with Angus again sometime soon?
Yes, we will be working on a project in January together. It is a recording session. We're working on the Pine Barrens Folk Music Oral Histories I'm creating. I have five people already lined up. Gillespie's recollections will be a recorded companion to his Merce Ridgway & The Pine Hawkers tape from '86.
Do you know if you will be playing New Jersey Folk Festival in April?
We haven’t heard. If invited, we’d love to appear again. It was founded by Angus in the ‘70s, you know? But just this year, the festival has been given over to a new group to run it, so we aren’t sure what their plans are yet for April.
When will you be recording and releasing a third volume of Pine Barrens music?
In 2025. We’ll probably record it in the spring and release it late 2025 because we have original music to focus on next year.
How did the reissue of ‘Purgatory Road’ come to be?
The day after we performed at the 2024 Philadelphia Folk Festival, I was standing on the hill watching Dom Flemons, and an email comes in from a mutual friend I had never met.
Well, he was driving home from the Grand Ole Opry for an artist he manages and happened to hear one of our songs on a Spotify playlist and said, ‘Who do you work with?’ And when I told him, ‘No one,’ he asked if we wanted to put our debut record out for real on his label. Once we got to know him and talked to some mutual friends, we decided to let him handle the streaming re-release of a 20-song version of ‘Purgatory Road’ with extra demos, B-sides, and a new version of an old favorite. It dropped Dec. 6.
What is the ‘old favorite’ on the deluxe ‘Purgatory Road’ and what guests does it feature?
On Dec. 6, we released ‘Even When I’m Gone’ (feat. Shannon Lauren Callahan, Julia DiGrazia, and Max Jury).’ We’re so excited to give new life to the song that really started it all for us.
Shannon is Maggie Rogers’ guitarist, Julia is an amazing songwriter-fiddler and also tours in Evan Honer’s band, and Max is just an astounding vocalist and songwriter as well. So, we’re pumped to have such a talented band to join James and I on this new single.
When and how will the ‘Wheel’ LP be released and what will be on it?
‘Wheel,’ which currently has three songs already out, will be released in 2025. It’ll contain those three singles, two more singles that’ll come out in early 2025, and five more songs. While more of the songs on this record are just James and I, how the band began, there are also a handful of full band tracks that round out this collection of 10 new original songs.
Do Cranston and Max contribute to the ‘Wheel’ album? If so, is that the first original Jackson Pines album on which they’ve worked?
Yeah, Cranston is on ‘Wheel,’ the song, playing drums and singing harmony. Max will also play some electric guitar on the full band numbers.
Is James Herdman on ‘The Wheel’ LP?
Yeah, on some of the full band songs.
What impact did the three of them have on the album?
Any musician who joins on a song brings their own spirit to the track. Their technical skills, yes, but more importantly, their experiences and feelings through what they play. They all bring those things to the songs they’ve recorded with us on, whether on ‘Pine Barrens Vol. 1,’ ‘2,’ or ‘Wheel.’
Who else will be featured on ‘Wheel’?
Scott Grimaldi plays baritone saxophone on ‘Hammer,’ which is out now, and will be on another one of the album cuts. Tyler Sarfert, who is engineering and mixing ‘Wheel,’ also plays synthesizers on a few of the tracks.
Will you be releasing another single and video from ‘Wheel’?
Yeah, the first one is coming New Year’s Day 2025. It’s called ‘Combust.’ But first, the incredible West Coast artist Lawrence Martinez is making a video for ‘Even When I’m Gone (feat. Shannon Lauren Callahan, Julia DiGrazia, and Max Jury).’
Will you be following up ‘Hornpipe & Other Poems’ with another book of poetry?
I don’t know. I’m always writing poems, but they’re not for a book right now. But we will have copies of ‘Hornpipe’ at concerts and online again soon. The second edition is currently on its way.
Watch Jackson Pines on PBS here.
How did it feel to participate in the ongoing 50th anniversary celebrations of Albert Music Hall and The Stone Pony in the same year?
I’ll never forget our set at the 50th Anniversary of Albert Music Hall/Pinelands Cultural Society last week. We got to play in front of some of the originators of Albert Hall and their descendants and it was just an honor.
It’s so special to be part of the Albert Music Hall community. They are the repository of NJ’s folk music history, full stop. Without them, so much of the story and detail is lost. Without them, we’d still be playing our music and exploring the history of the music that came from our backyard, but we wouldn’t know 90 percent of the songs or history. It could’ve easily vanished.
We haven’t worked with The Stone Pony in two years actually. We hope to again soon. But we didn’t come onto the scene until 20 years ago as teenagers, so we understand they can’t get to everyone who had a history there in just one year. Hopefully, the 50th Celebrations continue, they deserve it.
What impact have both those venues had on Jackson Pines and why?
Albert Hall taught us it isn’t ironic to be a folk band from New Jersey. There is as much country, old time, and folk history as there is in Virginia, Tennessee, or Texas. We were the crossroads of the south and northeast, and just as many people played fiddle, banjo, and guitar as anywhere else. The love of storytelling and singing is just as strong here as anywhere.
The Pony was were we learned how to perform live. Without it, I wouldn’t understand how to perform, to entertain. From age 13 one, our first bands then seconds bands, all the way to now went through those doors and up on that stage. It’s like our home-court. It feels like being on a team and it’s a home game. I know every square inch of that place, inside and out, and the places you aren’t supposed to know about. It’s like our Parthenon.
Are there any shows Jackson Pines are doing not yet listed on your website?
Yea, we have a lot of plans for 2025. We’re going to announce a selection of dates once I finish the 2024 Tour with a Songwriter Round at Crossroads in Garwood on December 11th. Cranston Dean will also be performing his songs as part of the round. Others TBA.
We’re going to be Artists in Residency with two different cultural institutions and universities, part of which includes performing live. I am also receiving my first grant to create a large-scale work of Sound Art, for Summer 2025 for a NJ State Park. More on that next year. And, of course, we’ll be perforng live at clubs, theaters, and festivals around the country, as well as at home in Asbury Park. We loved touring to Montreal this year, so if anyone is reading in Ontario or Quebec, contact us, we wanna come back.
Do you have any solo shows or poetry readings coming up?
No. They could always pop up, though. I’m technically playing solo on December 11th at the Crossroads show.
Jackson Pines have won a bunch of Makin Waves Awards over the years, but for the first time, you will have been named Band of the Year. How does that make you feel?
It’s an honor. Thanks Bob, NJ Stage Magazine, The Aquarian, and everyone involved. To be recognized by our peers, where we grew up, and sweat, and work, means more than any huge corporate publication.
Is there anything I didn’t ask on which you which you would like to comment?
Remaining 2024 concerts:
12/7 Ocean County Library, Lacey Branch, Forked River, NJ, 2:30PM (Which is a great coincidence because that’s where Merce Ridgway was from).
12/11 Crossroads, Garwood, NJ, 7PM Songwriter Round feat. Joe of Jackson Pines, Cranston Dean, and more TBA
2025 is going to be a hell of year. Keep an ear out for what’s next. Thanks everyone for the support.
Bob Makin has produced Makin Waves since 1988. Follow Makin Waves on Facebook and contact Bob at [email protected].
