Q: That's why you have a band now. That's the whole deal going on. Your music has touched so many people so deeply that I'd imagine that you deal with some very intense fans who want to ask you about songs and the way that -- you know, musicians have the ability to transcend time and space. You're living in L.A., but these records are living in Iowa and Miami and New York and Connecticut, so --

A: That's good to -- that's a good way of looking at it. It's a good thing to try to keep in mind.

Q: And so after a gig or when you -- when people come up to you and if they're not, you know, fanatical, but just, you know, regular people and they come up to you, what do they want to know? Do they want to know the inspiration for the songs? Do they try to project themselves into the songs? I mean, you must deal with this on a frequent --

A: Generally, people want to tell me something about their lives. Generally, people want -- it's pretty -- it's a lot of affirmation in that if someone comes up to you. And for the most part, the people who do are pretty -- they're pretty sane. You know, they're not too fanatical. They have a -- they want to express a kind of commonality of experience. They want to say, you know, this particular song really meant a lot to me or this particular album was something I played a lot during a certain time of my life. And it just gave me that kind of affirmation. And it's really reassuring.

It's also instructive. I mean, I had a friend of mine say, "Oh, you know, that song -- your song" -- and I hadn't seen him in a long time. And -- I hadn't seen him in, say, a year. And I had made a record in that time and we'd been really close during a certain period of time. And he said, "Oh, yeah, that song The Sky Blue And Black, that's so about -- that's me and Erin." And I'm going -- and I know Erin. And not only am I thinking, "it is?" Oh, okay. You know, it's amazing how songs work, because they -- because those specifics get sort of blurred by a song. There's a filter that a song has to pass through, which is that you have to sing these words out into -- just the fact that these words have to sort of sound good. They have to actually mean more than -- and it can't be straight reportage, you know, of your own experience. And so whatever happens to it when it becomes a song that you can sing out into the air, winds up, you know, connecting in a lot of ways with people in surprising ways. I mean, there are permutations and sort of resonances that you've never -- as the writer you never thought of, you never intended, but they're there.

Q: But that's one of the major rewards, right?

A: Yeah.

Q: I mean, when you're playing a concert, you get that immediate gratification. You see it in the faces and the people dancing and stuff. But when the one-on-one thing and you're going, gosh, I wrote that in a room in Spain and you're telling me it's about you and Erin - or whatever.

A: There's also -- that's the main difference between the acoustic shows and the show with the band. And it's simply that, with the band, you're on stage and you're relating to each other and there's an audience present. And you may take part of your attention to talk to the audience or in some way include them. But there's a chemistry and there's something that's going on -- physically going on on this stage.

But if you do an acoustic show and you're all by yourself, then you're in a chair in front of -- or you're standing in front of, you know, say 3,000 people who are also just listening to the song. And you're listening to the song and they're listening to the song. And you're all sort of like -- it's like you're listening to records together or you're auditing this kind of experience. And we've all had many of the same experiences. And so there is this sort of otherworldly kind of ethereal experience that happens in these acoustic shows. And it's very conversational. There's something about even just the few words that you say to introduce a song or whatever might come to mind in between songs that fixes it in time and people. And that's -- it's like you're all sort of staring into this same void and experiencing -- well, probably some very different things, but all at the same time.

Q: Yeah, it's not Jackson Browne here and everyone else here. I mean, we all come together --

A: Well, sometimes, in some of these songs -- they'll call for songs that are -- that I may not have been singing for years. And I think, "well, I might be able to remember that" and I'll try. And it's almost like listening to the song -- I'm really listening to it and it's coming out of my mouth. And sometimes it doesn't -- you know, I don't remember all of it or -- but -- or I barely remember it in time to get the words out or something. But it's like -- it's very much like we're in the same space. You know what I mean? I mean, I'm in the same headspace as they are. I'm listening.

Q: Yeah, you're hearing it objectively, as if you hadn't written it, almost, right? There's been a lot of water under the bridge since a lot of these songs, too.

A: That's another thing. They stop really being about whoever I was thinking about when I wrote it. I mean, if I had to think about some of the people I've written these songs for every time I sang the song, it wouldn't be much incentive for singing 'em. It would be like, you don't -- they become something else. They become more of a fable, as opposed to a, you know, accurate report.

Q: Well, but that's what a great song does. It grows and it takes on new meanings, especially after 9-11, a lot of songs for us took on new meanings. Whenever you're gosh darn heart breaks, all the songs seem to come alive and take on new meanings.

Jackson Browne is here with us. He was in town last night taping Austin City Limits on his birthday. And he's going to go back out on the road with Tom Petty soon. And hopefully, that will come our way.

I've got a deal for you. So we're talking acoustic versus band. I thought if you're willing, we could do one more live song on the acoustic and then we could leave folks with a song straight from the record.

A: Okay. Cool.

KGSR's Bobby Ray and Jackson Browne

Q: Okay. So now I have a -- I had a -- something in mind. I hear you've been playing it, so -- I don't know if it's got a tuning -- I hear you've been playing Your Bright Baby Blues. Is that in another weird tuning or no?

A: Yeah, I do that in a tuning. I could play it out of tuning, but it wouldn't be like --

Q: No, I want you to do what -- we want to do it the right way. So you choose.

A: Yeah, that's one -- I would -- I don't even know if -- my case didn't make it in here. That's a song I play in a tuning, also, and with a slide. And it's like --

Q: Well, you give me one that you think smacks of the acoustic experience that we were talking of just before. And then we'll pick one from the album for the band experience.

A: Yeah. Is my -- oh, I see my case is right down there. Let me see if someone finds it. Is there a slide bar in there?

Q: So where are you going after today? Because you've got a flight --

A: Oh, wait a minute. Wait a minute. No, it's not the right guitar. There's another guitar in the truck. I'm going back to LA and I've got some things to take care of there before getting ready to go out for the rest of the fall, you know.

Q: Your children are grown, right? You've got -- your son is how old now?

A: My son is going to be 29 in a couple of days -- couple of weeks. And I've got a nephew that's 22 this week. And my other nephew is 12. And I've got a son in Australia also that's going to be 21 in January.

Q: Unbelievable. And Jackson, by the way, looks exactly as he did back then.

A: Oh, that's very -- that's generous of you.

Q: It's true, man.

A: So next time you see me, my hair is going to be white. It's all going -- it's all sliding down.

I think, as much as I'd like to -- I tell you what. I'll come back and sing that song for you sometime and just bring the right guitar. If I thought there was going to be more -- it would have been easy to bring that guitar, too.

Q: I was putting you on the spot and picking off the top of my head. But I do want you to pick one that you would do at an acoustic show, just you and your guitar.

A: I tell you what. And can I pick the one you're going to play from the record, too?

Q: Definitely.

A: Because that's one that's got this finger picking part that, once again, I had to learn how to do after the band arrangement. Band arrangement is almost sort of Al Green kind of really slow, funk thing. And just to be able to play it when I was writing it, I had to like -- I came up with this thing that was so folky, it was just this drop thumb, finger-picking.

But that's not the one I'm going to play for you right now. I'm going to play something else, a finger-picking thing. And this is a song that was used in a movie not too long ago. And it's a real old song. This was used in "Royal Tenenbaums". And I forgot that I'd licensed them to use this song. And this is one of those things that comes to you in the mail and you don't know what they're talking about and you simply give them their permission. You're sitting in the movie theater and there's this great moment when Gwyneth Paltrow is coming out of a bus or something like that. I'm thinking to myself, I used to play the guitar just like that. And then the voice comes on and it's Nico singing These Days, which I played on.

These Days (song)

Jackson Browne and Jody

Q: Jackson Browne - thank you!

A: Thank you Jody, thanks for having me.

Q: You were so much older than, you're younger than that now...

A: Exactly.

Q: Greg Allman did a great version of that song, didn't he?

A: Yeah, and when he did it I thought that he really unlocked a power in that song that I sort of then emulated in my version. I started playing the piano. I wasn't trying to sing it like Gregg; I couldn't possibly. I took the cue, playin' this slow walk. But it was written very sort of, kind of -- (strums opening to These Days) -- a little more flatpicking. A lot of people have done it now, it's really a, you know, a lot of versions of it.

And now I've learned how to play the Nico version, which we sort of made up for her. (Imitates Nico's version of "These Days") Fabulous you know...

Q: I'm going back to rent the "Royal Tenenbaums" now. I've got to catch this part where the song comes in.

Jackson Browne's been with us for the better part of an hour. And his new album is "The Naked Ride Home". And I think you accomplished what you, in some sense, set out to do, which is meld those two parts of your musical personality on this record.

A: Yeah, thank you. Thank you Jody.

Q: It's wonderful. And I think you'll be back here before too long, so I look forward to seeing you then.

A: Thanks, thanks

Q: Okay. We're taking requests, Jackson, but we can only play from this one record, "The Naked Ride Home".

A: Play Never Stop, because that's got that same kind of drop thumb, finger-picking thing underneath it.

Q: Jackson Browne and Jody Denberg. Well, once again, a belated happy birthday.

A: Thank you. It's been really good.

Q: I think the television program airs in November, if I'm not mistaken, so...

A: Yeah, it's coming up pretty soon.

Q: Austin City Limits and Jackson Browne back out on the road with Tom Petty and hopefully back in our town before the end of the year. And nice to meet you.

A: Thank you. It's great to meet you, Jody.

Q: "The Naked Ride Home" is the album. Jackson Browne our guest, 107.1 KGSR. And by request, this is Never Stop.

(End of interview.)