Jackson Melnick’s Abilene available today

Colorado songwriter Jackson Melnick is pleased to announce the release of his album, Abilene. Available everywhere today, Abilene finds Melnick’s songwriting prowess matched perfectly with the musical talent of collaborators Jason Carter, Matt Combs, Alex Leach, Tuck Tucker, and Cory Walker. Christopher Henry from Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band helmed the band as producer. Although the arrangements draw on the traditional sound of Bill Monroe and Ralph Stanley, among others, Abilene is at heart a songwriter’s record. Across these 10 tracks, Melnick combines his reverence for bluegrass with a lyrical point of view that is both mystical and topical.

Growing up in Crested Butte, Colorado, Melnick began meditating when he was 8 years old. Within a few years, he learned to play guitar and started busking—first singing John Denver and Steve Earle songs, then moving toward Dylan classics. Through most of his teenage years he hosted a weekly radio show on a local community station, too. But the most transformative moment may have been when he was 17 years old and saw a video of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings on stage. “I was watching them, and I felt like I knew exactly what they were doing, and how they did it. It was a transmission, like, ‘I know how to do that,’” Melnick recalls. “It hit me like a stack of bricks. Then I went to my guitar and I wrote three songs. They just sort of poured out and that was the beginning for me.”

Spend some time with Abilene today on your preferred listening platform. More details here.