Jeff Buckley

Jeff Buckley is the hero of any modern rock critic. Being the son of rock legend Tim Buckley never phased him, and in many ways he outdid the musical accomplishments of his father. Despite only having one studio album to his name, he has ascended to a mythical status and rightly so. Jeff tackled music from many genres, and his influences are perhaps more eclectic then his own music. Jeff funneled the abilities and style of Billie Holiday and Myles Davis to Nina Simone to Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Yet somehow is all made sense. Grace has sat atop many critics Best of list for quite some time. Spin Magazine declared it the #1 Modern Rock Classic. It's an album you can't put in a brown paper bag. How do you classify an album that goes from folk and jazz to blistering rifts and middle eastern groove? That's the point, you don't. You listen and remain in awe. Take in the soundscape and let it place you exactly where Jeff was in his life.

Buckley led a life that paralleled his father Tim. Tim was an avante garde musician in the early 60s that spent most of his time tangled up in the scene that was going on in New York City at the time. Tim was a college dropout who was determined to bring his budding music career into something more. He drove taxi cab on the side. Tim was never commercially successful, most likely why his music changed so rapidly. He began as a folk musician but had quickly descended into avante-garde and psychedelia. Most of his fanbase abandoned him as they felt the shift in genres was a betrayal to the hippie ideals Tim had once embraced. He quickly recorded 3 albums worth of material with a sex-funk aesthetic that failed commercially. Tim ended up accidentally overdosing on heroin when a friend had challenged him to 'take it all'. Tim died and passed into the realm of rock legend. We look back as his music and he was 20 years ahead of his time.

Jeff never got the chance to know his father. Tim really wanted nothing to do with his own son and really just wanted to focus on his own thing. Jeff recalled at one point he got the chance to meet his father and he stayed with him for a week. Upto this point Jeff had gone by Scotty Moorhead. After his brief stint with his father he forever took his birthname Jeff Buckley.

Having a father like Tim wasn't an easy. Musically Jeff wasn't even interested in singing. He played guitar around Orange County and even attended a guitar school. It wasn't until whispers started going around New York that Tim Buckley had a son who was also a musician. The city that destroyed Tim was seeking his replacement. Someone experimental enough to push the envelope while having an aesthetic sense for music. Jeff was invited to NYC to perform at a Tim Buckley tribute event. Shockingly enough, Jeff chose to do it. He really saw no harm in performing some of his father's music as a way to pay tribute to him. The audience at the show was stunned as the young Buckley resembled his father in not only looks, but voice as well. He had the vocal range and elasticity to cover a Tim song, which no one upto that point had.

Jeff had been introduced to a number of musicians from performing at the tribute show and one of them was legendary guitarist Gary Lucas. Gary has a list of accomplishments a mile long and through his knowledge he was able to impart a certain knowledge of music onto Jeff. Jeff briefly fronted Lucas' band 'Gods and Monsters' but after a few gigs Lucas and Buckley parted company. However Jeff had written a few demos with Lucas that had later ended up as some of the most stellar tracks on Grace.

After playing the Cafe circuit and having a residency as Sin-E, Jeff signed to Columbia Records after a bidding war ensued. Jeff spent the better part of a year recruiting his band and getting material together. He entered the studio with producer Andy Wallace of Nirvana fame and began to record Grace.

Grace is where our story ends. There is no followup album. Buckley tragically drowned in the Mississippi river before a followup could be recorded. We do have the post-humous release 'Sketches for my Sweetheart the Drunk' that offers a glimpse into what Buckley could have become. This article marks the beginning of '10- days of Grace' where I'll post a song from the album daily and break it down. Expose it's brilliance and origins.