Since the release of his critically-acclaimed debut album Gone Wanderin’, Jackie has built an endearing audience through a relentless touring schedule with the likes of BB King, Mark Knopfler, Susan Tedeschi, and TajMahal. In just the last four years, he has played lead guitar with The Black Crowes on their Layin’ Down With #13 World Tour, recorded and toured with Trigger Hippy - his supergroup with Joan Osborne - and performed over 250 shows of his own, all while continuing to record and release his solo work. Jackie is a frequent member of Phil Lesh & Friends, and sits in with countless other artists like Tedeschi Trucks Band, Govt Mule, Mississippi All-Stars, Amy Helm, Steve Earle, and Bob Weir.

NASHVILLE-BASED SINGER-SONGWRITER MARK HUFF’S NEW ALBUM STARS FOR EYES BREATHES REAL LIFE INTO TALES OF LOVE, LOSS AND MYSTERY
 
With Grammy-winner Chad Brown producing, Huff’s new compositions—and one Leonard Cohen classic—reinforce his reputation as a heralded Americana song craftsman and poignant vocalist while expanding his sonic vision with the support of a superlative musical cast. Release date is March 23 on Exodus Records.
 
NASHVILLE, TN — “There are two kinds of singers: the ones you believe and the ones you don’t,” observes Mark Huff. “Anything that’s good stems from honesty.”
 
You can hear the ring of honesty throughout Huff’s ninth solo release, Stars for Eyes, as he negotiates the highs and lows of love and life in its 11 songs. But like real life, there’s nothing simple about the characters that populate his tunes or their emotions. As Huff knows, even the bliss of falling in love can be laced with conflict—a duality he captures perfectly in the title track’s shimmering sonic dreamscape, elegantly painted with steel and electric guitars, keyboards, and an angelic choir of female voices to support the balance of limerence and doubt in his arcing vocal melody.
 
Stars for Eyes follows his 2016 Americana tour de force, Down River, which ranged from full-tilt roots rock to gospel-fueled allegory, all spiked by Huff’s expert writing, open-hearted vocal performances, and ear for perfect musical support.
 
In his new album’s “I Know You Don’t Want My Love”—a number driven by Huff’s own acoustic guitar—he ventures into darker territory as the song’s narrator is driven toward madness and even, possibly, murder, by cold-hearted rejection. All the while, the warm, wailing tones of an effects-laden pedal steel played by Russ Pahl (Pretenders, Dan Auerbach, John Hiatt, Lana Del Rey) provides ghostly commentary.
 
Huff is also joined by a host of other accomplished players on Stars for Eyes, which was produced by Grammy winner Chad Brown, who has worked with Ryan Adams, Faith Hill, Gretchen Peters, Tom Russell, Dr. John, and Hayes Carll. Brown won a Grammy in 2015 for his work on Mike Farris’ Shine for All the People. Other guests include guitarist Doug Lancio (John Hiatt), bassist Mike Vargo (Allison Moorer, Radney Foster), keyboardist Micah Hulscher (Margo Price) and Julie Christenson, the longtime supporting vocalist for Leonard Cohen, who plays the same role for Huff on his version of Cohen’s meditative “Almost Like the Blues,” which closes the album.
 
Together Huff and his players give Stars for Eyes an uncommon blend of cinemascopic sound and storytelling depth—once again raising the bar for the rich musical journey he began in his teens. “For this album,” Huff explains, “I took the filters off. I decided to liberate myself as an artist. I arrived at a point where I felt, after a lifetime of singing and learning from great songwriters like Ray Davies and the Beatles, that my vocal style had come into its own. When I was writing many of these songs, I’d also been in a relationship—and clearly I did not get the girl, so that affected by perspective. And I knew that since I was ready to really get personal with these songs, I didn’t want it to be a typical Nashville sounding album, so I decided to work with Chad and to get a diverse group of musicians who could play deeply rooted music with an ambient sonic approach.”
 
That approach turns songs like “Carolina Blue,” a kind of cosmic country waltz, into iridescent works of pop craftsmanship—balancing the poetic sensibility of Dylan’s Nashville Skyline with the scope of Daniel Lanois’ earthier productions. All the while, Huff’s voice and guitar serve as the album’s compass.
 
Although most of the songs negotiate the turns of life’s emotional landscape, “Big City Down” is an ode to his adopted hometown: Nashville, Tennessee. “When I moved here, I was welcomed with open arms by the music community,” he says. “I’ve felt at home here ever since.”

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