Rick Fines - Jackson Delta Background
A Profile of Jackson DeltaJackson Delta emerged - after almost 15 years of work in coffee houses, clubs, colleges, concert halls and festivals - as a world-class acoustic roots/blues band.
The trio of Alan Black (drums, harmonica), Rick Fines (guitars) and Gary Peeples (guitars) has taken its own brand of basic, emotive, stripped-down music to enthusiastic audiences from the Mississippi Delta to the Mackenzie Delta.
"Jackson Delta grew out of rock n roll bands that Al and Gary and I played in. On our off nights we would get together to play acoustic blues." - Rick Fines.Blending the traditional sounds of the rural south with their own contemporary songwriting, this is a band with rare depth, passion, and finesse. And when the three residents of Peterborough, Ontario named their band after the Jackson Creek, which flows into Little Lake right beside the downtown Holiday Inn, they indicated that their music has a home-grown wit as well.
Jackson Delta's first hint of a strong future was in 1988, when the trio placed third in the new talent contest for the National Blues Awards, and cut their first album in the famed Sun Studios in Memphis - in a single hour. The resulting tape, Delta Sunrise, is a collector's item these days as only 250 copies were pressed.
The follow-up album, Acoustic Blues (nominated for Best Roots/Traditional at the 1990 Juno awards), was recorded a year later. This independently released album was just what the band needed to trigger interest among club bookers, concert promoters and festival organizers. Since then the band has hardly paused for breath.
The band's third album, Lookin' Back, continued the trio's exploration of the blues tradition, but was markedly different in that all but two pieces were original tunes. A fourth album resulted from a live session cut with pianist Gene Taylor at the Ultrasound Showbar in Toronto in the spring of 1992. Titled I Was Just Thinking That... the record brought the band their second Juno nomination.
Jackson Delta has performed at virtually every important folk, jazz and blues festival across the country, toured with Muddy Waters veteran piano man Pinetop Perkins and performed with Colleen Peterson, Mose Scarlett, Ken Hamm and many others.
It may have been Stereophile magazine that described the band best:
"homemade, late-night, bare-bulbed, linoleum-floored kitchen blues with gritty vocals, solid arrangements and always biting rhythms."
Jackson Delta - Media Reviews
"Jackson Delta are well placed to lead the charge ... of an approaching acoustic blues revival."
Tim Perlich, Now Magazine."Lookin' Back is cohesive and exhilarating and retains an old-time feel with the spirit of progress. This album will reach a wider audience than is generally available for most straight blues or folk bands."
Probe Magazine."I'd crawl over many a bar-stool to hear these guys."
Vicki Gabereau, CBC Radio."It is stretching it a tad to suggest Peterborough is on the cusp of becoming the next blues capital of the universe .... (but) Jackson Delta is easily the most respected of the city's musical exports. When they break loose... listen to the urgent rasp of Back Up From Zero... this is a group that is as dignified as it is fun."
Craig Macinnis, Toronto Star."...instrumentalists (who are) respectful of older sounds and styles ... highly recommended."
Tony Quarrington, Mariposa Notes."Very few individuals, anywhere, have Jackson Delta's understanding of the blues tradition."
Richard Flohil, artistic director, Mariposa Festival."As natural and comfortable as if they were playing on somebody's porch ... each member is a crackerjack player, they leave room for each other and follow one anothers moves instinctively."
The Complete Entertainment Guide to Toronto."Delta blues never sounded so good. (Their) mood hypnotized the near-capacity crowd."
Lynn Saxberg, Ottawa Citizen."Few blues bands are all-acoustic, and, frankly, even fewer are this good.. The band is carving its own knife-edge sound into a genre usually dominated by imitators."
Stratford Beacon Herald.
