An introduction To and Interview With

35 year old Jackson Lucitt was born and raised in Port Talbot, South Wales, the home of one of the biggest steelworks in the world. After spending 8 years living in Yorkshire, he is now back living in Port Talbot with his Canadian Wife Samantha who he met in the iconic ‘Cavern Club’ in Liverpool.

Progressing from a band manager to promoter and then tour manager of his company Shiny Vinyl Presents, Jackson has used the last few years to turn his lifelong passion for music into a career. One of the many benefits of growing up in a small, steel town is there is no shortage of interesting characters which make for a catalogue of songs in true Jackson indie-folk, grab your partner for a barn dance kinda style.

After a life-altering pilgrimage to one of music’s holy lands Nashville, Tennessee, Jackson began to strive to emulate the sights, sounds and emotions he experienced on his travels and you can hear these influences like Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Buddy Holly, The Smiths and Jake Bugg in his music.

One of the first people to play Jackson’s track was Dan Potter from ‘In Your Ears Music’ radio station and Jackson hilariously tweeted a video of himself listening to it being played from ‘Irene’s Bar’ which is a self-made bar in Jacksons garden. The bar was affectionately named after Jacksons Nan ‘Irene’ who he spent several years living with and who he describes as the ‘hardest person I know’.

TALKING TO THE SONGBIRD ….

Hey Jackson, thanks so much for talking with us today. So you have a video on your Instagram of you playing an acoustic version of your debut single ‘Text Back Blues’ almost 3 years ago, but you’ve only just released it on the 2ndApril to rave reviews, what was the reason for only releasing it now?

Until about 2 years ago I had no plans to ever release my own music. To say I didn’t have the strongest of voices would be a huge understatement, and I had no idea about recording, producing, etc, but after getting great feedback at open mics and a few support performances, I was encouraged to get some recorded. So, around Christmas 2019 I started having singing lessons, and got in to the studio in February 2020, but then the pandemic hit. A year later, here we are, a few months of singing lessons, some home recording equipment and some mates who know what they’re doing.

The track has had me dancing nonstop as it is such an uplifting, feel good summer song, what were your musical inspirations when making this track?

You’ve only got to scratch the surface to hear my musical inspirations in all my music. Sound wise, I’m very Jake Bugg, Johnny Cash, you know? However, I’ve tried to be lyrically more like Alex Turner where I’m telling a story with very ‘working-class’ references. This one was written in no time after a night of wondering ‘why isn’t she texting back’. So,with the style I was already writing in, this was pretty easy.

You grew up in South Wales, what was that like and what Welsh musicians have inspired you over the years?

Stereophonics are an obvious one, but let’s face it, the songs they’ve written over the last 25 years have been something else. My old man’s a huge fan of Badfinger so I’ve really got into their back catalogue over the last few years. Catatonia were always a band I thought could’ve gone on to dominate, Cerys Matthews is incredible, I could listen to her all day.

You love your football and played for Cliffe FC when you were living in Yorkshire, if you couldn’t be a Musician would you be a Professional Footballer?

Yeah, I lived in Yorkshire for 8 years, that’s where I played for Cliffe FC, a small village just outside York, probably where I made the biggest development in my music, as well as my football actually. I’d love to say I could be a professional footballer, but that was never going to happen. I probably would’ve pursued the coaching side of things though. I enjoyed that and we did quite well in my first couple of seasons of coaching (2 consecutive league titles and a Cup Final).

Your lovely wife Samantha is from Canada, has she introduced you to any Canadian bands or artists?

She knows far more about music than I do, her father, actually produced the debut single! Her cousin is in a band called Hopper and really remind me of Crystal Tides, another class band!

You met Samantha in the famous Cavern Club in Liverpool, what venue would you most like to play in the future?

Yeah The Cavern’s on the bucket list, but to be totally truthful, at the moment, I’d just love to headline my own show anywhere really, as long as people turned up and went a bit nuts with me. Any venue, any festival, let’s do it!

Dan Potter from ‘In Your Ears Music’ radio station has been a huge supporter of yours since day one, what has it been like to connect with new bands and supporters, and do you think there has been a shift in how many people are now listening to Independent Artists?

The Twitter music scene has exploded since lockdown began, Dan Potter, Sam Shiner, Ady Hanson, Edwin, Mike Tanner, Paula and so many others really have driven the new music scene to a whole new level. It’s probably what gave me the confidence to release the single, I seemed to have a following before a single was even announced, which is unbelievable.

The last year has had us stuck indoors and not able to enjoy live music, have you got any gigs booked that you’re excited to go and watch?

The Rotanas! I’ve got tickets for 3 out of the 4 tour dates as it stands, but that’ll no doubt change. I can’t remember the last time I heard a band that genuinely gave me this much excitement, incredible songs and an even better bunch of boys.

Finally ‘Text Back Blues’ has already got us wanting to hear more music from you, so what can we look forward to in the next 12 months?

Well, I tell you what, here’s an exclusive for you, the follow up single is planned for release at the end of May and is called ‘Reality Town’. We literally finished recording it over the weekend. After that, the plan is to release maybe 3 or 4 more singles before the end of the year and then see where we are. There are plenty of tracks already written and ready to go, Ijust wanna get them played live, ride the train for as long as it lasts and have a good time doing it, innit!

FOLLOW JACKSON LUCITT

Facebook: www.facebook.com/jacksonlucittuk
Instagram: www.instagram.com/JacksonLucitt
Twitter: www.twitter.com/JacksonLucitt
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXKuVYkspU8-h8-ZNwF7_-w

By ERIN POWER

Photo credits – Gary Davison