Ever-thoughtful Browne delivers musical messages

Having a protracted conversation with Jackson Browne is a bit like stumbling across the most interesting guest at a cocktail party.

For a while, you might chat about Carlos Varela, the Cuban musician (and the subject of the documentary “The Poet of Havana”) whom Browne befriended on his first trip to Cuba in 2002 after hearing about Varela years earlier from Bonnie Raitt.

“Carlos was immediately so inspiring. He’s funny as hell. He’s very buoyant and he’s truthful,” Browne said. “He’s definitely influenced me. He’s a different spirit.”

Or maybe the conversation will veer toward the title track of his current album, “Standing in the Breach,” which uses poverty and earthquakes as the backdrop to a message of hope nestled at song’s end.

Do you always make a conscious effort to bring a promising message into your songs? You ask.

“I guess I do,” Browne replied with a laugh. “I really do think there is potential in everybody to make the leap and start living in a way that takes into consideration the problems that we’re faced with. There might be ways that people can get out of these sorts of boundaries that separate them. It may be a wishful thing to say, but the possibility is there.”

His thoughtful response reminds him of a TED talk he recently observed online of Jane McGonigal, a video game proponent who believes the use of digital technology leads to positive real-world collaboration.

Browne highly recommends watching it.

The singer-songwriter brings his thoughtful message and music back to the Turlock Community Theatre on Wednesday, April 27. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee last played the Central Valley venue in 2011.

Politics, of course, is a topic widely associated with Browne, who, along with creating 14 studio albums and a couple of dozen hits since the early ’70s, is frequently associated with political causes, environmental activism and human rights charities.

Eventually, conversation winds back to Browne’s lifelong job as a musician, and one who has been canvassing the world since March to support “Breach.”

On his recent tour Browne has played a chunk of new material from the well-regarded “Standing in the Breach” album. But Browne added that his band knows plenty of other songs that might “jump out” if the mood strikes. Some of the hits – “Running on Empty,” “I’m Alive,” “Doctor My Eyes,” and “Take it Easy,” his co-write with Eagles co-frontman Glenn Frey – should be there, too.

He credits his group of longtime players, including bassist Bob Glaub, keyboardist Jeff Young and drummer Mauricio “Fritz” Lewak, with providing him the stamina to continue to tour across country and the globe.

“They’re able to keep these songs fresh,” he said. “I’ve got these guys – and singer Alethea Mills – who are really playing emotionally. It’s a lucky grouping of musicians. … It’s gratifying that this album was, I think, received really well. People want to hear these songs as much as the old ones.”

Browne is always writing songs, always looking forward.

But he readily embraces a question about his history, about why he thinks “These Days,” of all the songs in his mighty catalog, is the one most covered.

“I really don’t know,” he said, and then paused. “It seems recent to me. I’m used to people coming up to me in airports and saying, ‘I love that song of yours! My favorite one is ‘Stay’!’ Hey, thanks, the one song I didn’t write!” Browne said, chuckling. “I have every kind of fan and some of them know every song I’ve done and some just know the hits and they both have their place in my wonderfully lucky career.”

But back to “These Days.”

“A lot of younger people come up to me and say they love that song,” Browne said. “To me, it’s a very ‘young’ song. I had to rewrite it when I was 25 because the lyrics weren’t reflective of me at the time.”

German singer Nico first recorded his song – the original version – in 1967 and Browne appreciated this “Nico version” covered by Replacements singer Paul Westerberg in 2003 as well as Glen Campbell’s 2008 rendition.

This story was originally published April 19, 2016 at 3:07 PM with the headline "Ever-thoughtful Browne delivers musical messages."