Curtain Call

Writing and performing a sad song is easy, and few know that better than singer-songwriter Jackson Browne. One of rock music’s original troubled troubadours, Browne basically made his name writing about the tragedies in his life, particularly after his first wife, actress and model Phyllis Major, committed suicide in 1976 and left Browne to raise their three-year-old son, Ethan.

Songs from that period of his life still find their way into Browne’s concert set list, especially tunes from his breakthrough albums Late For the Sky and The Pretender, which he was working on when Major swallowed an overdose of barbiturates.

Although mental-health experts might disagree, Browne doesn’t have a problem revisiting the dark days of his life on a nightly basis in front of thousands of people.

“I tell you why it doesn’t present a problem, because it’s somehow reassuring to go back and encounter some sorrow,” he explained in a 2008 interview with The Times of London. “I’ve thought about it many times. Once it’s a song, it’s like a room in which things happen. You can go in there and lift objects up and examine them. Just by virtue of the fact that you can leave again, it’s somehow comforting to sing a sad song.”

As a songwriter, the true challenge is writing something positive and uplifting,” he added.

“There’s a long-held belief that you’re going to write the best stuff only if you’re miserable, but that can’t be right,” he said. “To express your happiness or gratitude is more of a challenge, and to write a wildly happy song, or one that makes you happy, is a worthy goal. But you can’t pretend, so you have to deal with all this stuff as it comes up.”

Browne is still touring behind his 2008 album Time the Conqueror, his first studio release in six years. A professional musician and songwriter since his teens and an original member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Browne, 60, is now reaching deep into a second generation of fans with his music and words.

Known as much for his social and political activism and concern for the environment as he is for his music, Browne made headlines during the 2008 presidential campaign when he sued Republican hopeful Sen. John McCain and his campaign for using Browne’s 1977 hit single “Running On Empty” as an attack on Barack Obama without Browne’s permission.

“They broke two very clear laws,” he said of the suit, which hasn’t been resolved. “That they can’t use your song without your permission, and that they can’t imply you endorse a candidate if you don’t.”

Browne was actually an Obama supporter, both publicly and financially to the tune of a $2,300 donation to the Democratic candidate’s campaign.

Browne, whose concert tour stops at Borgata for a single show Saturday (July 25) in the Event Center, continued to mix music with politics on his latest album with songs like “The Drums of War,” “Going Down to Cuba” and, most tellingly, “Where Were You,” a song critical of former President George Bush’s handling of the Hurricane Katrina crisis.

Browne’s record for social activism is even referenced in “A Piece of the Pie,” a song on composer Randy Newman’s 2008 album Harps and Angels. The tune contains the lyric, “While we’re going up, you’re going down/No one gives a shit but Jackson Browne.”

Browne loved the mention by Newman, who is one of his artistic influences and heroes. But he also noted that the line really isn’t true. He feels plenty of people still care about the world and the environment and want to work for social change. To that end he’ll continue to raise his artistic voice in support of issues of global importance.

“I’m a card-carrying member of hedonists for peace,” he said. “I just don’t think peace and prosperity should only be for the wealthy.”

Although he’s been writing music for himself and other artists for more than 40 years, Browne doesn’t feel his well will ever run dry. Inspiration is never a problem; time is. As he gets older, he realizes “there’s less time left,” yet he’s in less of a hurry to increase his creative output.

“Maybe I’ll get desperate towards the end,” he said. “You want the things you sing about to be about life and other people’s lives, and if I shut myself away and tried to ramp up the output, it might limit the interest I take in things that are pretty universal.”

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Casual conversations with the stars. Watch the Emmy-winning Curtain Call with David Spatz, Saturdays at 6pm on WMGM-TV NBC40.