Clem Snide

Bloodkin ad(mission) statement for 2021 and beyond by Eric Carter- co-founder.I met Danny Hutchens when I was 7 years old and by the time I was 16, our songwriting partnership had begun. We were a package deal; partners in crime.Our main focus from then on was to write , perform, and record good songs , as well as occasionally get fucked up , and figured that somewhere along the way , we would have a band to help us do it.In the summer of 1986 , we finally left West Virginia behind and made our move to Athens Georgia and through a series of unfortunate events, Bloodkin was born.Of course we had some things to learn in the years before recording our first record in Alabama with legendary producer Johnny Sandlin , with backing and support from John Bell and our other buddies from Widespread Panic.So , in 1994 Good Luck Charm was released into the world and the cycle of recording and playing live shows wherever and whenever we could was underway.The list of different members that we’ve had over the years is too much to get into here. We never called Press Conferences to introduce new people. Some just showed up and never really left, or if they did , they might pop back in at some point.For several years , every December at the Georgia Theatre we would put on a Bloodkin and Friends Show, filled with special guests that we dug and some folks who were deemed “Honorary Members”. Even the legendary sax player Bobby Keys was on that list!And that’s the approach that we’re taking right now. “Friends” is the name of the game. With Danny’s passing paired with the release of a reaallly good new double album (of course) titled “Black Market Tango,” what was the next move gonna be? It had been 12 years since our last record, and Danny and I were really proud of this one. We truly wrote this TOGETHER. Of course COVID has been a big thorn in the side of everything, and we had been making some vague plans on what to do. And then. He’s gone.Our Manager Carison Stokes had already had a few things lined up , and these people still wanted us to come and PLAY. Once some dust had settled (and there was a LOT of dust) , some folks started reaching out , offering ways to make this thing work. The Bloodkin and Friends approach… in 2016 we successfully pulled this off at one of our Georgia Theatre shows when Danny had suffered his first stroke.So, in step The Friends. Tori Pater can fill the guitar and vocal Sonic Space required on many things… Eric Martinez has been doing Bloodkin things with and without us for years and could show up at any time. Then there is the Force of Nature that is Betsy Fucking Franck. Vocalist Extraordinaire and whatever else she feels like doing. Former bassist David Nickel dusting off the bass to do this again , and the regulars , Johnny Neff on Pedal Steel and Electric Guitar along with Aarron Phillips (another West Virginian) on the Drums. My own little Charlie Watts.There’s too many good songs and so many good people that wanna play em… what else am I gonna do at this stage of the game ? We’d better do it while we’re still able , and it appears that there are some folks who still wanna hear our Glorious Noise.Danny and I had started to think of this band like a baseball team. It’s a long assed season and not everyone can make every game , but there always seems to be someone to step in and step up. I know it sounds horribly cliche , but lots of folks have told me “This is what Danny would’ve wanted.” And they’re probably right.So…. Enjoy 😉

Bloodkin

Jerry Joseph is a musician who lives in Portland Oregon, but he’s often gone. He’s been inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame but is still rather obscure to a lot of people. He plays well over 150 shows a year in the usual places. Across America. Sometimes in Europe, Mexico, and Central America. Then there’s these other places he plays—Lebanon, Israel, Kurdish Iraq, India, and Afghanistan. All over the Middle East, often in war zones and refugee camps. In addition to his touring, Jerry has set up a non-profit called Nomad Music Foundation that acts as a sort of School of Rock for displaced teenagers in areas of conflict. So far, he has taken guitars and taught lessons in camps in Kabul, Afghanistan, and Sulaymaniyah and Dahuk, both in Kurdish Iraq. These life-changing missions have been written up in Rolling Stone, Relix, and PBS News Hour. Oh yeah, and he’s really fucking great.&nbsp; A triple threat—someone who works at the highest levels as a songwriter, singer, and player. Jason Isbell, who kinda personifies such, recently tweeted about triple threats and listed Jerry Joseph (along with Richard Thompson and St. Vincent) among the greatest examples of that phenomenon. Most likely, if you know who Jerry is, you agree, but there’s also a big chance that you don’t. His talent, drive, work ethic, amazing body of work, and flat out badass-ness make him one of the most underrated and tragically overlooked artists alive today. He deserves better, and I’m hoping to help shine a light on who and what Jerry Joseph is and why you should listen to what he’s doing and saying. First off, there’s the body of work. Jerry Joseph has been playing shows and making records since the 80s, first in a band called Little Women that at one point looked destined to be huge, but this is a crazy business and sometimes things just don’t go as planned. By the 90s Jerry was struggling with addiction while also creating the beginnings of a vast body of work as a solo artist and burning up the road backed by a mighty band called The Jackmormons. They built a considerable following in the great Northwest. Many of Jerry’s songs were recorded by the band Widespread Panic, and there are many people who know of Jerry through that connection. Later, after getting clean, Jerry toured and made some albums as part of Stockholm Syndrome, a sort of supergroup he formed with Panic bassist David Schools, who himself is an incredible musician. Much of Jerry’s following in the so-called jam band circles is through his affiliation with these bands. Musical taste is a funny thing. People who are into one or another genre of music often don’t pay much attention to musicians who fall outside of those forms. The age of streaming and the internet have broadened things considerably, but there is still a form of segregation that occurs across various boundaries, often accompanied by derision for stylistic forms outside certain circles.&nbsp;I have spent much of my life rebelling against this way of listening, while sometimes still being as guilty as anyone about this exact thing. I’ve always been drawn to songwriters and the writerly aspects of music, and with some glaring exceptions, there has always been a disconnect between the so-called jam music scene and the so-called singer/songwriter genre. The fact that Jerry is a writer’s writer who has been mostly known in “jammy” circles has always made him somewhat an anomaly. I have also always been partial to punk rock, yet there has always been a wall separating punk bands from jam bands, even though Black Flag, The National, Sonic Youth, and many of the legendary punk bands through the years have always proclaimed themselves massive Grateful Dead fans. I know Jerry Joseph to be a die-hard fan of all kinds of music across many genres, and there have been seeds of those many genres in most of his many records. Underneath it all, to me, he’s always been a punk rocker at the core. Jerry, to me is a cult figure who could, in some alternate reality, have easily been one of the biggest stars in the world. One of the greatest live performers I have ever seen and long one of my favorite songwriters. I can’t hear the chorus of San Acacia without picturing Jerry singing it in front of 100,000 screaming fans, in a soccer stadium in Brazil. In the pouring rain. With everyone singing along. Essay by Patterson Hood

Jerry Joseph and the Jackmormons 

Over two decades and 11 albums, Jess Klein—who possesses what&nbsp;MOJO&nbsp;calls “one of those voices you want to crawl up close to the speakers to listen to” has pursued a remarkable creative evolution that’s seen her dig ever deeper for resonant emotional insights, while continuing to refine her eloquently melodic, effortlessly accessible song-craft.&nbsp;&nbsp;Jon Pareles of&nbsp;The New York Times&nbsp;calls her “a songwriter with a voice of unblinking tenacity…who finds parables in the everyday and also finds humanity behind the archetypal.”&nbsp; Klein has performed to rapt audiences at the&nbsp;Newport Folk Festival, Winnipeg Folk Festival, Fuji Rock Festival&nbsp;in Japan and packed houses in notable listening rooms like&nbsp;Joe’s Pub, NYC,&nbsp;The Borderline&nbsp;in London,&nbsp;Club Passim&nbsp;in Boston and&nbsp;Fogartyville&nbsp;in Sarasota, FL. She has appeared on&nbsp;Good Morning America&nbsp;and&nbsp;NPR’s&nbsp;All Things Considered&nbsp;and has toured across the US, Europe and Japan on her own and with such artists as&nbsp;Arlo Guthrie,&nbsp;John Fullbright&nbsp;and&nbsp;Carlene Carter.&nbsp;The Rochester, NY native began writing songs as a college student in Kingston, Jamaica, and is known for staking out brave lyrical and musical territory with such albums as&nbsp;Wishes Well Disguised&nbsp;(1998),&nbsp;Draw Them Near&nbsp;(2000),&nbsp;Strawberry Lover&nbsp;(2005),&nbsp;City Garden&nbsp;(2006),&nbsp;Bound to Love&nbsp;(2009),&nbsp;Behind A Veil&nbsp;(2012) and&nbsp;Learning Faith&nbsp;(2014) which&nbsp;Folk Radio UK&nbsp;calls “Unquestionably the finest album of her impressive career.”&nbsp;Jess spent eight years soaking up the live music culture of Austin, TX.&nbsp;Bootleg&nbsp;(2015) Jess’s live, full band album captures the dynamism of Jess onstage, backed by some of Austin’s top players.&nbsp;Jess was named a 2015 Finalist in the highly regarded&nbsp;Kerrville New Folk Competition.&nbsp;Jess’s spoken word piece,&nbsp;Chicken Soup, written in 2017 after the Jewish cemetery where her grandparents are buried was vandalized, has received standing ovations at her performances across the U.S. and Europe and is slated for a special re-release in summer of 2022.&nbsp;Her 2018 song&nbsp;New Thanksgiving Feast, was featured in&nbsp;No Depression‘s&nbsp;fall 2022 issue in an article exploring the complex relationship between Thanksgiving and the violent history of American agression against Native Americans.&nbsp;In 2016, Jess and her husband, songwriter Mike June moved to tiny but vibrant Hillsborough, North Carolina where she recorded 2019’s Back to My Green.&nbsp;Americana UK&nbsp;raved, “When bluesy, gospel-infused fires can be found in the same broad church as&nbsp;soothing, maternal words to the wise,&nbsp;then here is a singer- songwriter who has found not only her place in her world, but also one for all those new arrivals on the scene to look up to.”&nbsp; North Carolina has also proven to be fertile ground for a number of new collaborations for Jess, including singing Jazz &amp; Great American Songbook Standards with her backing band,&nbsp;The Berlin Brothers, as well as&nbsp;The Halfbacks, a joint project with her husband Mike June, and most recently, joining North Carolina legend&nbsp;Jonathan Byrd&nbsp;on bass guitar and harmonies.&nbsp; Jess brand new solo album, “When We Rise,” is due out in 2023.

Shiloh & Gaines

@shilohgaines