Dylan Kroes
Audio By Carbonatix
Jackson Harkness may be based in Denver, but his music is intrinsically tied to his Minneapolis roots: His key inspiration is one of Minnesota’s favorite musical sons, Bob Dylan. Although Dylan was born in Duluth and raised in Hibbing, he attended college in Minneapolis, and his presence is felt in the city, Harkness says.
“Bob Dylan is kind of ubiquitous,” he muses. “There’s the apartment where Bob Dylan stayed when he had a semester at the University of Minnesota. … We are proud of him, and proud to say that he came from here.”
The influence is in Harkness’s blood: “My mom was a classic ’60s hippie,” he says. “Coming from the Minnesota/Wisconsin area, she loved Bob Dylan growing up.”
Harkness took to the music early on, and was particularly attracted to Dylan’s work with Johnny Cash, as well as the song “It Ain’t Me Babe,” which he recalls dancing to in the kitchen as a toddler.
“I was probably more drawn to the energy of the rhythm of the songs than the lyrics at that age,” he says. “But there’s just something about the way he conveyed words that always stuck with me. I think that was kind of the backdrop for my love for music.”
His paternal and maternal grandfathers knew each other before his parents got together, and the two would pass the time blowing harmonicas and singing folk songs in front of the fire. That sight stuck with him.
“By the time I was nine, I was begging my parents to get me a guitar,” he recalls. “Since I saw that, I always wanted to play. That’s kind of what brought me down the path of music. I had a realization around the age of thirteen or fourteen that I wanted to write songs rather than be a virtuoso on any instrument.”
Harkness doesn’t evoke Bob Dylan’s unique take on singing – only the master can pull that off. Otherwise, he says, it’s too easy to sound like you are copying or portraying a caricature. He finds himself captured by Dylan’s influence within the realm of songwriting.
“I’ve been trying to bring that vision of being honest and open in your lyrics when you’re telling a story,” he says. “But from a more modern perspective.”
A fan of modern indie rock and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Harkness tries to bring similar heavy rock drums and bass into his sound. He’s also been enjoying Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats. He’s called Denver home for the past few years and is playing shows with a backing band, the Jackson Harkness Band, as he explores his sound. He’ll be at Lost Lake Lounge on Friday, February 18, the same day that his new single, “The Father,” drops.
“For each song, I mostly start with what I’m feeling and what emotion I’m trying to portray,” he says. “For me, it’s less about what my overall sound is as an artist versus what is [the] sound I’m going for on this song – how I can convey that emotion best.”
Harkness also takes lyrical inspiration from his own life. “The Father” is inspired by an interaction with a homeless man over a summer he spent in Boston when he was seventeen. A fleeting summer romance may have inspired recent single “3 More Days,” but Harkness says it’s not exactly a love song, even if it sounds like one on first listen.
“It’s broader than that,” he says. “I personify it with a person who I want to see. ‘So give me three more days to know your face.’ It’s not necessarily just knowing one person’s face. It’s more like give me three more days in that thought process.”
He adds that he likes to give listeners the wrong answer in his songs.
“It can be difficult to say, ‘Well this is the answer for the human condition, and here is my song for that,'” he says. “It’s easier for me to show an example of how not to do things, which I think is kind of a Dylan-esque way of songwriting.”
Jackson Harkness’s music is available on Spotify. He plays Lost Lake Lounge, 3602 East Colfax Avenue, on Friday, February 18. His next single, “The Father,” comes out the same day.