David Jacobs-Strain Strums Slides Picks and Sings Live at Rainshadow Recording

FROM THE DESK OF EVERETT MORAN, OWNER & SOUND ENGINEER AT RAINSHADOW RECORDING:

Photo James Michael

About David Jacobs-Strain In 2001, I was in charge of booking the 5th annual Coors Roots of the Blues Festival in Denver. I wanted to give the opening slot to a young up-and-comer - someone with enough chops and soul to play on the same stage with the likes of John Jackson, Corey Harris, Del Rey and others. Mary Flower suggested a young, sixteen year old kid from Eugene Oregon. Well, David Jacobs-Strain most certainly had the chops to hang and an old soul to boot.

It is sixteen years hence and that prodigious, young bluesman has not only doubled in age but, arguably, has at least doubled in musical breadth. David has evolved from a myopic student of the blues into one of the finest singer-songwriters of his generation and, yes, he still has the chops to hang with the best. To wit, his newest record, due to release later this year was tracked at Sound City and mixed by Jim Scott (Tom Petty, Lucinda Williams). David is joined by an A-list of musicians including Jim Keltner, Viktor Krauss, Greg Liesz, and Larry Goldings. He is just one of these guys who is in his own class. A great singer and guitar player. ~Jorma Kaukonen Known for both his virtuosity and spirit of emotional abandon, David's live show moves from humorous, subversive blues, to delicate balladry, and then swings back to swampy rock and roll. It’s a range that ties him to his own generation, as well as to guitar-slinger troubadours like Robert Johnson and Jackson Browne.

"I try to make art that you can dance to, but I love that darker place where, in my mind, Skip James, Nick Drake, and maybe Elliot Smith blur together." 

David began playing on street corners and at farmers markets as a teenager and bought his first steel guitar with the quarters he saved up. Before he dropped out of Stanford to play full time, he had already appeared at festivals across the country, often billed as a blues prodigy, but he had to fight to avoid being a novelty act: I wanted to tell new stories, it just wasnt enough to relive the feelings in other peoples music.

David has appeared at festivals from British Columbia to Australia,including Merlefest, Telluride Blues Festival, Philadelphia Folk Festival, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Bumbershoot, and Blues to Bop in Switzerland.  He’s taught at Jorma Kaukonen’s Fur Peace Ranch and, at fifteen years old, was on the faculty at Centrum’s Blues and Heritage workshop. On the road, he has shared the stage with Lucinda Williams, Boz Scaggs (more than 60 shows), Etta James, The Doobie Brothers, George Thorogood, Robert Earle Keen, Todd Snider, Taj Mahal, Janis Ian, Tommy Emmanuel, Bob Weir, T-Bone Burnett, and Del McCoy.



David Jacobs-Strain w/Bob Beach
Friday, March 17th, 8pm (Doors at 7:30)
Rainshadow Recording Studio
200 Battery Way, Bldg 315 (west side)
Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend
Tickets available at Crossroads Music and Quimper Sound Underground in Port Townsend or at davidjacobs-strainbrowntickets

UPCOMING SHOWS

3/16/17 3hattrio
3/17/17 David Jacobs-Strain
4/08/18 Luke Winslow-King
4/22/17 Steve James
4/25/17 Gurf Morlix
9/23/17 John Fullbright

All shows at Rainshadow Recording unless otherwise noted.
Tickets available at brownpapertickets.