Джексон Кэри Фрэнк: Забытый голос американского фолка

American folk musician

Jackson Carey Frank (March 2, 1943 – March 3, 1999) was an American folk musician. He released his first and only album in 1965, produced by Paul Simon. After the release of the record, Frank was plagued by a series of personal issues, and was diagnosed with schizophrenia and protracted depression that prevented him from maintaining his career. Frank spent his later life homeless and destitute, and died in 1999 from a combination of pneumonia and cardiac arrest. Though he only released one record, he has been cited as an influence by many singer songwriters, including Paul Simon, Sandy Denny, Bert Jansch, and Nick Drake. Rolling Stone journalist David Fricke called Frank "one of the best forgotten songwriters of the 1960s."

Frank was born Jackson Carey Jones on March 2, 1943, in Buffalo, New York, the only child of Marilyn Rochefort Jones and Jack Jones, a test pilot. He later took on the surname of his stepfather, Elmer Frank, an army officer and food chemist. He was raised Christian, though became atheist in later life. On March 31, 1954, when Frank was eleven years old, a furnace exploded at his school, Cleveland Hill Elementary School in Cheektowaga, New York. The fire killed fifteen of his fellow students, The trauma from the burns also caused extensive damage to his parathyroid glands, resulting in an unregulated buildup of calcium in his body that led to extensive joint problems and caused a bent posture and pronounced limp that lasted the rest of his life. During his hospital stay he was introduced to music when a teacher, Charlie Castelli, brought Frank an acoustic guitar to keep him occupied during the recovery. He was influenced greatly by Elvis Presley as a teenager. He once received a letter and autograph from Elvis, as well as a visit to all children injured in the fire from actor Kirk Douglas. Due to Elvis' rising popularity, a meet and greet with children from Cleveland Hill was cancelled. However, in 1957, Frank traveled to Memphis, Tennessee with his mother and passed the singer's home in Graceland, coincidentially meeting Elvis' father Vernon by the front gate. When Frank's mother explained who he was, he was taken inside the house to meet his idol. In high school, he developed interests in history and writing. While trying his hand at poetry and novel writing, he decided he wanted to become a news reporter. He worked on and off for The Buffalo News throughout his later teenage years. During this, his passion for music grew, and he began performing at local coffeehouses and art galleries. He often added comic relief to his performances, such as arguing with his microphone, in an attempt to hide his stage fright. In 1961, he enrolled at Gettysburg College and began studying journalism. There he met fellow musicians Mark Anderson and Tim Parsons. Together they formed a folk band called the D'Juray Singers, a name Frank coined but with no particular meaning. The three performed both covers and original songs for the college's radio station. After just a few months in further education, Frank's grades began to decline and he dropped out in spring of 1962. When he was 21, he received an insurance payout of $110,500 ($110500.0 in 1964 is equivalent to about <calculated amount> in recent years today) for his injuries and spent the money carelessly. He quit his newspaper job, bought several cars and frequented clubs in Toronto with his friend John Kay. In February 1965, he made the decision to move to England with his girlfriend Kathy Henry, though they broke up shortly afterwards due to Frank's declining mental health.

His eponymous 1965 album, Jackson C. Frank, was produced by Paul Simon while the two of them were living in England immersed in the burgeoning local folk scene. Counting Crows, John Mayer, Mark Lanegan, Colin Meloy, Bert Jansch, Eddi Reader, Laura Marling, and Robin Pecknold (as White Antelope), while Nick Drake also recorded it privately. The song was also heard in the 2018 film The Old Man & the Gun, while his song "Milk and Honey" was heard in the 2003 film The Brown Bunny. "Milk and Honey" was also covered by Fairport Convention, Nick Drake, and Sandy Denny, whom he dated for a while. By the early 1970s, Frank began to beg aid from friends. He spent a while renting rooms and sleeping on couches. In 1971, a meeting was arranged with Art Garfunkel to share new material and potentially give him the rights to his unreleased song "Juliette." However, the disrespectful behaviour of Frank and the "hippie" friends he brought along made Garfunkel uncomfortable. He left the discussion early, never to return. Frank then spent time playing for live broadcasts, as well as working an unpaid entertainment job for a local fair. During a particularly productive period, Frank managed to write multiple new songs as well as the opening of a potential book, which he'd named Society Doll. In 1975, Karl Dallas wrote an enthusiastic piece in the British weekly music newspaper Melody Maker, and in 1978, Frank's 1965 album was re released as Jackson Again, with a new cover sleeve, although this did not in the end make his music much more popular outside of a small number of his fans. As the medication given to him alleviated his paranoid symptoms, Frank made the decision to stop taking it. He soon began to run around naked again, sometimes wearing a cape and carrying a sword, naming himself after the Walter Scott character Lochinvar. He also began smoking marijuana. Once again, he ended up in a psychiatric hospital.

Frank lived with his parents in Elma, New York for a few years in the early 1980s. People in the neighborhood were wary of him due to his odd behaviour, such as walking aimlessly on the 55 mph country roads and sitting in ditches for hours to pick at grass. However, he was "cut a lot of slack" due to his involvement in the Cleveland Hill fire. In 1984, his mother, who had been in hospital for open heart surgery, returned home to find Frank missing with no note or forwarding address. Frank had gone to New York City in a desperate bid to find Paul Simon, but ended up homeless and sleeping on the sidewalk. Frank died in Timberlyn Heights, a nursing home in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, from a combination of pneumonia and cardiac arrest, on March 3, 1999, the day after his 56th birthday.

Though he never achieved fame during his lifetime, his songs have been covered by many well known artists, including Simon and Garfunkel, John Mayer, Counting Crows, Nick Drake, Sandy Denny, Julie Felix, Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Laura Marling, Chromatics, and Robin Pecknold. Nick Drake covered 4 songs from Frank's debut album; "Here Come the Blues", "Blues Run the Game", "Milk & Honey", and "Kimbie". These are found on Drake's posthumous release, Family Tree. Frank's song "I Want To Be Alone", also known as "Dialogue," appeared on the soundtrack for the film Daft Punk's Electroma. Soulsavers covered "Blues Run the Game" on their single "Revival" (7" vinyl, April 30, 2007). Marianne Faithfull covered Frank's arrangement of the traditional song "Kimbie" on her 2008 album Easy Come, Easy Go and included the song in the repertoire of her 2009 tour. Erland & The Carnival covered "My Name Is Carnival," apparently Frank's favourite song. Bert Jansch also covered this song as a gesture to Frank. Sandy Denny covered "You Never Wanted Me" and "Milk and Honey" on the album It's Sandy Denny released by Saga Eros in 1970. Her song, "Next Time Around," contains coded references to Frank, her ex boyfriend. "Marcy's Song" is played by Patrick, John Hawkes' character, in the 2011 film Martha Marcy May Marlene, and "Marlene" plays in the closing credits. Laura Barton's BBC Radio 4 programme Blues Run the Game, first broadcast November 20, 2012, included interviews with Al Stewart, John Renbourn, Jim Abbott and John Kay as well as archive material of Jackson C. Frank talking and singing. South Korean jazz singer Na Yoon sun covered "My Name Is Carnival" on her 2010 album Same Girl. "Milk and Honey" was sampled by Hidden Orchestra in their track "The Burning Circle" and by Hip Hop artist Nas in his track "Undying Love". French singer and Kora player Stranded Horse (Yann Tambour) covered "My Name Is Carnival" on his 2016 album Luxe. Alt country band Son Volt covered "Yellow Walls" in 2017. A previously lost song from his 1968 period called "Golden Mirror" was uploaded to YouTube in late 2017. "Blues Run the Game" is featured in the 2018 film The Old Man & the Gun. Colin Meloy performed "Blues Run The Game" in the 2013 musical/documentary Another Day, Another Time: Celebrating the music of "Inside Llewyn Davis" and in 2017 Brazilian film "Araby". "Horseshoe Crabs," a song on Hop Along's 2015 album Painted Shut, was inspired by the events of Frank's later life. "Just Like Anything" was covered by Malcolm Middleton (Arab Strap) on his 2008 album Sleight Of Heart. The electronic music band Chromatics covered "I Want To Be Alone" in 2019. David Balfe's project For Those I Love samples the main hook from "Cryin' like baby" on the eponymous debut album's final track Leave Me Not Love. The album's themes concentrate on youth, friendship and grief, using the lyrical sample to convey the artist's feelings upon learning of the death of his best friend. Joshua Lee Turner covered "Blues Run The Game" on his YouTube channel in late 2018.

"Milk and Honey" featured on the soundtrack of Vincent Gallo's 2003 movie The Brown Bunny (and prominently in the movie's trailer). The American TV series This Is Us features "Blues Run the Game" in episode three, which first aired on October 11, 2016. "My Name Is Carnival" is briefly played in the 2019 film Joker. In a later scene, Joaquin Phoenix's character, Arthur, says, "I heard this song on the radio the other day, and the guy was singing that his name was Carnival. Which is crazy, because that’s my clown name at work." "Blues Run the Game" is featured on season 2, episode "Subterranean Fire" of Tin Star in 2019. "Blues Run the Game" is featured on season 2, episode 7 of Britannia in 2019. "Blues Run the Game" is featured on season 1, episode 5 ("Time of the Monkey") of Poker Face in 2023.

Jackson C. Frank (1965)