A Quick Word on Jack Rose

I was at a wed­ding when I got word that Jack had died. It felt like a punch in the gut. I did­n’t know him par­tic­u­lar­ly well, but well enough to say hi when I saw him around town. He lived around the cor­ner from me here in Port Fish­ing­ton, and I’d often see him smok­ing a cig­a­rette out­side his house on Cedar Street. I named this blog for the song he’s play­ing in the video above. Watch it and let it soak in.

Jack­’s music con­tin­ues to amaze me. His genius was revered with­in a small group of fans here, grew some­what when Kens­ing­ton Blues was released, and then shrank again. See­ing him play was always a treat and I saw him pret­ty often, most mem­o­rably in the First Uni­tar­i­an Church sanc­tu­ary when he opened for Sunn O))). I saw him play with Pelt when they opened for Earth in the church base­ment. Jack was the sort of artist who had his bonafides and did­n’t need crit­i­cal praise from Pitch­fork to grow a com­mit­ted following.

I can’t believe he’s gone. It’s one of the sad­dest sto­ries in music for me in 2009. I some­times imag­ine him still play­ing at 60, daz­zling a new gen­er­a­tion with his sin­gu­lar style. I want­ed to see where he’d take his music. It’s a shame that we won’t all get to see that hap­pen. I’m hope­ful that Thrill Jock­ey can release his final album and that Jack gets the recog­ni­tion he so rich­ly deserves.

Rest in peace, Jack. Your music lives on eternally.

4 Comments

  1. I admired Jack Rose. I dis­cov­ered his music over a year ago when I was into the pre-WWII music and got into the Tako­ma style sounds and when I thought that music was long and gone, there was Jack Rose. I have fol­lowed his releas­es, bought 3 of his lp’s, and ran­dom­ly checked online time to time for new videos and tour dates in hopes of him play­ing in Bal­ti­more city where I live. I was check­ing today like usu­al and I found out he passed. This is a very sad blow to me. I imag­ined him also play­ing lat­er in his life play­ing his song that have aged and evolved in time and won­dered what new sounds and music he would have cre­at­ed. He was too young to go. RIP Jack Rose

  3. I admired Jack Rose. I dis­cov­ered his music over a year ago when I was into the pre-WWII music and got into the Tako­ma style sounds and when I thought that music was long and gone, there was Jack Rose. I have fol­lowed his releas­es, bought 3 of his lp’s, and ran­dom­ly checked online time to time for new videos and tour dates in hopes of him play­ing in Bal­ti­more city where I live. I was check­ing today like usu­al and I found out he passed. This is a very sad blow to me. I imag­ined him also play­ing lat­er in his life play­ing his song that have aged and evolved in time and won­dered what new sounds and music he would have cre­at­ed. He was too young to go. RIP Jack Rose

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