Jackie Greene
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Jackie Greene (born on November 27, 1980 in Monterey, California) is a singer-songwriter and blues musician. He picked up music at an early age with the guitar and followed it with the piano. At the age of sixteen, Greene began to sit in with bar bands at the local brewery, and as he got older, he composed his own songs. He recorded in a makeshift garage studio, selling the burnt discs everywhere he could. Using the money he saved, Greene was eventually able to record and release his first full-length disc, Rusty Nails, on his own.
After graduating from high school, Greene moved to Sacramento and began performing regularly. Marty DeAnda, owner of local label DIG Music,', noticed Greene at an open-mic session in 2001 and immediately signed him as the label's first artist. Under DIG Music, Greene released his first formal CD, Gone Wanderin, in late 2002, which won the California Music Award for the “Best Blues/Roots Album” in 2003 and remained on the national Americana charts for over a year. In 2004, Greene released his second formal CD, Sweet Somewhere Bound and began receiving major radio play and recognition for singles like “Honey I Been Thinking About You.”
Greene has toured nationally with the likes of B.B. King, Huey Lewis, Susan Tedeschi, Taj Mahal, and Buddy Guy, and has played in many high profile festivals across the country, including the Rhythm & Roots Festival, Doheny, the Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals, South by Southwest(SXSW), Winnipeg Folk Festival, and the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival.
In early 2005, Greene signed with major record label, Verve Forecast. Sweet Somewhere Bound was reissued that same year. American Myth, Greene's latest piece of work and first album under Verve Forecast, was released on March 14, 2006.
He followed the release of American Myth with the launch of StreamJackieGreene.com, a website dedicated to hosting his unreleased material like demos, b-sides, and covers. In July, the site made its first attempt at free downloading--making it the only official place on the internet for such content. The website is ad-supported and thusly presents the music at no cost to the listener.