On Sunday (29 May), it will be 25 years since Jeff Buckley went for a swim in the Wolf River in Memphis and never came back out.
The first time I ever heard Buckley's debut album Grace (and only studio album released in his lifetime), I was blown away. I don't think I have ever had that reaction to any other record, before or since, on the very first listen.
Buckley was born in Orange County in 1966, to folk legend Tim Buckley and Mary Guibert. He cut his musical teeth on the avant-garde scene in 1990s New York City, playing solo in many of the arty cafes. Like Sin-e in the East Village, where his first EP was recorded, released at the end of 1993.
By that point, he had been in the studio with his band, working on tracks that would ultimately end up on the debut album. Grace came out in August 94. It contained seven originals and three covers, most famously, his epic version of Hallelujah.
Endless touring over the next two years was broken up by intermittent sessions in the studio; in summer and autumn of 1996, as well as early winter, they hit New York studios, before relocating to Memphis in February 1997.
When the rest of the band went back to New York, Jeff stayed on to do some more 4-track recordings to hone the latest songs. Recording proper, for the next album, My Sweetheart, The Drunk, were due to start in June, but as we know, Jeff Buckley made it through to then - and those early recording ending up becoming Sketches for My Sweetheart The Drunk instead.
Buckley's manager, Dave Lory, later told Talia Schlager in an NPR interview, that Buckley had been acting somewhat erratically in the weeks leading up to his death. He had tried to make offers to buy first a house, and then a car, neither of which were for sale. He had proposed to his girlfriend, Joan Wasser (the musician known as Joan as Police Woman). He had even applied to be a Butterfly Keeper at Memphis Zoo. None of this, Lory said, was in keeping with Buckley's normal behaviour. "I think it was a yearning to settle down. He wanted a normal life."
Stranger still, he recounted a story from about six years after Buckley's death, when Lory visited a psychic near London. "She told me things only Jeff and I knew." He later gave her one of Buckley's bracelets to hold - when he confirmed to her that it belonged to Jeff, she told him, "Well, I don't know if this makes sense, but he didn't mean for it to happen, but he didn't fight it. It's not your fault. It's okay to let go."
In the years after her sons death, Guibert threw herself into setting up Road Recovery, with the help of two of Buckley's old associates, Gene Bowen and Jack Bookbinder. The non-profit highlights the issues of addiction and young people in music.
In a recent reflection on her sons passing and the establishment of the charity with American Songwriter, she explained the background to the charity. "There's no denying the connection between addiction and popular music culture.... the other unavoidable connection is the number of musicians and artists we've lost to drug overdose.... Road Recovery's mission was to become the antidote to that ill-fated connection."
They have been able to persuade some big names from the music industry that have overcome addiction issues, to come out and publicly talk about their battles and vulnerabilities. Road Recovery focuses on teaching coping and communication skills, to try and help prevent more people from self-destructing.
The legacy that Jeff Buckley leaves is quite staggering. For someone who released one live EP and one studio album in his lifetime, the posthumous releases (that Guibert and former bandmates have curated) include the semi-formed Sketches (of what would have been the follow up) and a host of other live material that showcases what a phenomenal live performer Jeff was. Sketches, as it is, would have made most artists burst with pride at the immense quality - even the seemingly half formed songs shine. But, there is no doubt that had they made it into the studio that June, the result would have been even better. And, who knows what might have followed? But, as is sadly all too often the case, we had that opportunity taken away from us - 25 years ago.
(With notes from: JeffBuckley.com; American Songwriter; NME)
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