Jackdawg, the sole studio album recorded by a supergroup of the same name featuring longtime Doobie Brothers multi-instrumentalist John McFee and drummer Keith Knudsen and founding Creedence Clearwater Revival bassist Stu Cook, has just been reissued. When the trio recorded the album, McFee, Knudsen, and Cook were playing together in the popular country-rock band Southern Pacific.
Jackdawg, though, was a full-on rock project, mixing elements of roots rock, Southern rock, heavy metal, and even a bit of alternative rock.
McFee recently chatted with American Songwriter about Jackdawg, sharing details about the band, how the album came together, and more. At the time, Southern Pacific was winding down, and McFee, Knudsen, and Cook, who all lived in California, started getting together to work on new material at John’s Lizard Rock Studio in Solvang, California.
As McFee recalled, “We would get together and just fool around. And we started recording this stuff, and [were] like, ‘Let’s just do stuff that we think is fun. No musical limitations or … guidelines or anything. Let’s just be creative and see what we come up with.’”
John noted that, at that time, the musicians hadn’t even been thinking about launching a new band or leaving Southern Pacific.
“It was more just us spending some of our time creatively,” he added. “And we came up with a bunch of stuff and recorded it. And then, there was no label involved and no … real goal involved, other than just making some music we liked.”
About the Project’s Musical Direction and McFee’s Major Role in the Band
Reflecting on how different Jackdawg’s music was from Southern Pacific’s, McFee offered, “There’s nothing … in the Jackdawg project that you could say is really country. And it was … partly because we were having that outlet with Southern Pacific, and we’d been doing it for several years. [S]o it was like, ‘Let’s do some rock,’ … but it wasn’t like ‘let’s get away from [country]’ or anything. It was more like … ‘Let’s just do something different,’ and that’s why it took the direction it did.”
McFee has been a supporting musician for most of the bands and musical projects he’s been involved with throughout his career. In Jackdawg, though, John was the frontman. He not only sang lead, but contributed lead guitar, as well as keyboards and harmonica. McFee also co-wrote all of Jackdawg’s original material, mostly with both Cook and Knudsen, sometimes with one of the two.
Regarding taking on lead-vocal duties in Jackdawg, John said, “If I do say so myself, I’m a decent lead singer. I can do it. But I don’t seek the spotlight. In fact, I kind of tend to avoid it. But in this case … we were just trying stuff out, and it was fun. So, as long as it’s fun, I’d like it.”
McFee also insisted that Cook and Knudsen’s contributions to the project not be overlooked.
“We were pitching in together, you know, the three of us,” he said. “So, it was definitely a group effort.”
More Details About the Album and Some Standout Songs
Jackdawg is available now on CD, as a vinyl LP, and digitally. The CD and digital versions feature 15 tracks, while the LP has only 10 songs. In addition to the original tunes, Jackdawg features covers of Van Morrison’s “Wild Night” and Roky Erickson’s “It’s a Cold Night for Alligators.”
McFee talked with American Songwriter about some of his favorite songs on the album.
First, he mentioned the lead track, “Bayou Rebel,” which he co-wrote with Cook, as one of his favorites. Perhaps not surprisingly, the song features some swamp-rock influences reminiscent of CCR, but with a 1990s rock edge. McFee pointed that he’s known Cook “since before Creedence put a record out.”
John continued, “I … like ‘Kisses in the Rain,’ just because I like the background vocals. … I thought that was fun. And ‘Ghost Dance’ I like. I like what Keith did with the toms. … The drum approach on that was an interesting thing.”
McFee added with a laugh, “My son likes ‘Looking for Trouble.’ He thinks the guitar stuff on that is just the best.” The tune features some impressive shredding by John.
The album’s closing track is an interesting reworking of Morrison’s 1971 hit, the original version of which McFee played pedal-steel guitar on. McFee told American Songwriter that he can’t remember who suggested Jackdawg record “Wild Night,” although he recalls that someone had noted that he had a connection to the tune.
Regarding their unique take on the song, John said, “Our whole approach in Jackdawg, I think, was ‘let’s do the unexpected’ or … ‘let’s just go where nobody would think we would might go.’ And so, that’s kind of what we did, obviously, on that one. [It was] nothing like Van’s version.”
More About the History of the Jackdawg Album
The Jackdawg album actually didn’t receive its first release until well over a decade after it was recorded.
Around the time that Southern Pacific was breaking up in the early 1990s, McFee, Cook, and Knudsen did consider putting the record out. They contacted Joe Gottfried, one of the owners of the famous Sound City Studios in Los Angeles, and asked him if he’d be interested in shopping the album to labels. As McFee explained, Gottfried was interested, but sadly, he died suddenly shortly after that, so nothing came of the plan.
Also around this time, McFee and Knudsen were asked to rejoin The Doobie Brothers, while Cook and CCR drummer Doug Clifford launched their band Creedence Clearwater Revisited.
The Jackdawg album remained on the shelf until the 2000s, when McFee met Joey Stec, founder of a label called Sonic Past Music.
Stec had released some rare material by John’s pre-Doobie Brothers band Clover, and asked McFee if he had any other unreleased material that he might be interested in putting out. The Jackdawg album was released on Sonic Past Music in 2009, but quickly went out of print.
A new deal recently was struck with the Liberation Hall label, which reissued Jackdawg and gave the album its first vinyl release.
Reflecting on the album, McFee told American Songwriter, “[T]here’s some really cool … and interesting [songs,] … that nobody else has done stuff quite like, I think. Some of it, it’s unique. So I think it’s valid, and I hope there’s somebody out there that’ll like it.”
You can buy Jackdawg now at the group’s official Bandcamp page and LiberationHall.com.
Jackdawg CD and Digital Track List:
“Bayou Rebel”
“When the Sun Don’t Shine”
“The Men Who Would Be King”*
“Hunger”
“Ghost Dance”
“Take It Off”*
“Kisses in the Rain”
“I Couldn’t Help Myself”
“Quicksand”
“Lookin’ for Trouble”*
“Relentless”*
“Young Ones”*
“The Girl from Oz”
“Cold Night for Alligators”
“Wild Night”
* = does not appear on the LP version.
(Courtesy of John McFee)