Music Review // Chris Bullinger "I'll be Goin' from Jackson"

 

The way that Chris Bullinger makes music which can intertwine with the vocals just feels like magic.  "I'll be Goin' from Jackson" begins with this slow start, like an orchestra getting ready, as it has these slow horns blending in with the guitars.  It almost feels like we're going to go into a song from "School House Rock" and there is this overall feeling of classic rock in here as well.  But with these backing vocals there is also an element of soul.

While I can't really compare it with any other artist directly, Chris Bullinger does have this way of making this song feel like it's something from the 1960's or early 1970's.  There's that Woodstock way about it, where perhaps you want to get into a certain kind of van and drive around the country.  But, again, it doesn't sound like any one band it just has similar vibes to that time frame.  Even with the guitar solo, it just creates a classic rock odyssey.

Lyrically Chris Bullinger brings out thoughts of going from Jackson, which include the repeated lines: "Don't know if I'm going to Heaven or Hell / I'll be goin' from Jackson".   This just expresses that idea of leaving somewhere and maybe not knowing what the next place holds for you, but you just know you have to get out of this place.  I think we've all been in that situation at some point, whether literally or mentally, where we just had to leave and didn't know what was next but we just couldn't stay.

It would be weird if I didn't mention that there also exists a song perhaps made most famous by Johnny Cash called "Jackson" (though not his song, per se) where he sings about going to Jackson.  It's fun to think about how in the late 1960's Johnny Cash would be singing about going to Jackson and now as a sort of many years later sequel, Chris Bullinger is singing about leaving that very same place.  But on its own this is also just such a great song because Bullinger has such a unique voice.