By DJ Dave Hoffenberg
You don’t want to miss Jacob Green, a new act coming to Jax Food & Games in Killington on Friday, May 20-21 at 9 p.m. They love him at the Public House in Quechee where he’ll be playing once a month, the next one being 6 p.m. Friday, May 27.
Jacob Green lives up in the Northeast Kingdom and plays a lot of gigs up at Jay Peak. You can catch him this summer at their annual Jeezum Crow Festival on July 8 where he’s opening for Railroad Earth. He was supposed to play the festival in 2020 but (obviously) it was canceled. He’s grateful that he was asked to do this one.
He said, “I’ve been playing up at Jay for years and the staff is always so nice.”
Green enjoys playing at the Public House and really likes it out on the patio. He said, “I play some down home, rockin’ blues.”
He said of Andrew Schain, the owner, “He’s awesome. He’s been great to work with over the years.”
Jacob Green will be bringing his one man band to all the shows above. That’s what he mostly does although he has a six piece band, too. He plays mostly blues with some soulful folk as well. He’s been playing professionally for the past 15 years. He said basically it’s been his only job. He grew up in Beloit, Wisconsin about an hour from Milwaukee and first played in a band there. He grew up listening to Johnny Cash, Jimi Hendrix and The Doors but got into blues, roots stuff in his early 20s. His musical influences from a genre perspective are all over the place like hip-hop, punk rock, classic rock, jam bands and bluegrass.
Green said, “Overall blues gets the best response when I’m playing live.”
He first played the violin from ages 10-15 in the orchestra.
He said, “I wasn’t really good at it. I was good enough to play along.” He next got an electric guitar, then an acoustic and a slide guitar. He added, “Slowly I picked up banjo and cigar box guitars.”
He is a true one-man band. He’ll switch off from acoustic guitar to multiple cigar box guitars while simultaneously playing harmonica, stomp box and tambourine with his foot. He plays blues and folk-rock. His show is mostly originals and you can listen to these on all the social platforms under “Jacob Green Music”, including his website of the same name. He has two EPs and many full-length albums as well as some merch for sale on his website. I checked out some great videos on his YouTube channel which is Jacob Green Music Official. I encourage you to subscribe to that. After watching those, I honestly can’t wait to see him live.
Green started writing poetry when he was 10 and eventually elevated that into songs. Green said, “I’ll get these little inspirations which will spark a song and each song will have a different theme.”
He just release “Coexistence” this past February and it’s a double blues album. His releases have covered many genres.
“The album before that had a little more rock in it,” he said. “I have a couple older ones that have a more bluegrass flow. Overall I play the blues, which gets the best feedback.”
“Coexistence” is the best of both worlds in his music. Disc 1 is 12 tracks done entirely as a one man band. That has Green doing vocals, bass, acoustic guitar, electric guitars, steel guitar, harmonica, resonator slide guitar, resonator lap slide guitar, stomp box and foot tambourine. Disc 2, also 12 tracks, is with his full blues band. Joining Green are: Mark Wesling on drums, Nathan Michaud on electric lead guitar and Ed “WhiteWolf” Schoenly on blues harmonica. Nina Pelligra and Mandy Cappleman are the backup vocalists on some of the songs. All 24 tracks are written and produced by Green. With all that great feedback it made sense to him to release “Coexistence.” The double album has received great reviews as well as all of his work to date.
Before settling down in Vermont and starting a family, Green spent 10 years touring the country, playing music. He’s played in 40 states and averaged 150 shows a year. He got his start in Wisconsin before heading to Colorado and then Northern California.
He loves playing live and receiving positive feedback. “It’s like this great energy that’s shared with you. It’s a hard feeling to describe,” he said. “When it’s good, it’s so great. It’s an upbeat experience. I always try to stay positive regardless. I’ve worked a long time on my originals and to get people into it. When you play as a one man band, it’s a satisfaction like no other.”
