During the pandemic lockdown, California-based singer/songwriter Jackie Greene is streaming “Live from Jackie’s Pad” solo concerts on YouTube from his studio equipped with TELEFUNKEN microphones for vocals and guitar.
“It was pretty much just a necessity,” Greene says of the weekly concerts. “I just figured people were stuck in their homes in need of some cheering up, and so was I. I have all this equipment, so I figured I could make a really good-sounding livestream. I have gear that I’ve collected over the years and there’s got to be a way to use it in a way that’s productive for this time that we’re in.”
With an increasing number people tuning in on Sunday afternoons, Greene is reaching an audience that constitutes a respectable 3,000-seat concert venue. Watch it live here.
In 2002, he released his first album, “Gone Wanderin’,” which won the California Music Award for the Best Blues/Roots Album in 2003 and remained on the national Americana charts for over a year. In 2004, Greene released his third album, “Sweet Somewhere Bound”, and began receiving radio play for singles like “Honey I Been Thinking About You.”
“I figured there’s got to be a way to get good audio piped out from my studio,” he continues. “Working with a stereo feed, I wanted to marry it with the livestream video. My guitar player, Nate, helped me figure out how to use a DSLR camera, and showed me the software to make it work. The stereo output of whatever I’m working on in my studio is going into a Focusrite interface.”
Among his array of gear, Greene has a TELEFUNKEN large-diaphragm ELA M251E mic for vocals and a small-diaphragm ELA M260 tube mic on his guitar. “Basically, I started off with whatever I was working on in the studio that day, and that would be the set up for the livestream,” he notes. “Those two mics are a pretty good setup as far as the front end, and those went into API 512 mic-pres. I have a Universal Apollo 16 and I use the plugins, including the EMT 140 plate reverb.”
Referring the material on his weekly livestream, Green says, “I have a lot of fans that are Grateful Dead fans, so I do a lot of those songs. I play classic rock, and whatever people want to hear, basically. I figure that if people are just having a good time, they could be having dinner, they could be with their kids. So I try to keep it lively and loose, but I also realize that if there are thousands of people watching, there might be some kids watching, too. So, I try to keep it family friendly.”
Greene, Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead and Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes have made acoustic tours billed as the Weir, Robinson, Greene Trio, or WRG for short.
“I’m a dad,” Greene explains, “and my daughter was running around here when we were doing this livestream. At first I was like, ‘Hey, I’m performing here,’ and then I realized that it’s funny and people get a kick out of it. So now I think it’s great to have her pop up on screen and maybe she’ll even play a little harmonica.”
