Jade Jackson

Jade Jackson, a native of the small town of Santa Margarita, California, grew up legally blind, navigating her early years through sound. With no TV or internet at home, she immersed herself in her father’s extensive record collection, discovering a profound love for music and songwriting. While working in her parents' family restaurant, Jade found that waitressing provided the perfect setting to dream up songs, turning everyday experiences into inspiration for her craft. She pursued her passion for music at CalArts, where her unique talent caught the eye of industry professionals, leading to her being discovered and signed to a label during her junior year.

Life's challenges never deterred her; even a severe back injury in college, which temporarily halted her journey, became fuel for her songwriting. Jade went on to release two critically acclaimed records with Anti-Records, establishing herself as a formidable voice in country rock. In 2022, she joined forces with Aubrie Sellers on the collaborative album *Breaking Point*, further expanding her musical reach.

Most recently, in July 2024, she released her EP *Silent Wings*, continuing to draw listeners into her world with music that reflects her journey. Her songs remain deeply rooted in her lived experiences, shared with a sincerity and openness that aim to connect with others.




Wilderness, like Gilded, was produced by Mike Ness, the SoCal punk rock legend who essentially plucked Jackson from obscurity several years ago and helped hone her craft and sound. Jackson calls Ness “a master of feel and rhythm” and credits him with showing her how to invoke more of those calling cards in her new work, in addition to those countless tools now in her arsenal that they developed together over time. As the pair’s working relationship continues to evolve, Jackson recognizes that Ness has become more open to her input while she herself has gotten more hands-on in the studio, a process that ultimately resulted in delivering the sound for which both parties were striving.

“I think for the first album I couldn’t even believe I was there, but this time I had more of an idea of what I wanted, so it was more collaborative,” Jackson says. “Mike and I had the time to feel each other out and see what worked for us both, and the bond only got tighter. He is patient and kind. The more I learn, the more comfortable I feel raising my hand to ask better questions.”

Having filled notebooks with her words since as long as she can remember being able to hold a pencil, Jackson’s writing style is more akin to a never-dry fount than a measured bolt-from-the-blue, and the hardest part of the album’s early process was in selecting the best tunes to record from her mountain of material. As the touring cycle for Gilded ended in the fall of 2018, she and Ness were given the chance to enter the studio sooner than expected, a prospect they relished in order to help them maintain creative momentum. Although already armed with a grip of near-finished songs, Ness encouraged Jackson to keep pushing herself. The result was the last-minute addition of a few lightning-strike inspirations, something Jackson had never experienced.

“I had all the songs ready, but I felt encouraged to see if I could come up with something greater, like, ‘Is there something supposed to be on this album that isn’t alive yet?’” she says. “My creative wheels were spinning. One morning I was driving and a melody came in my head so I recorded it on my phone and sent it to Mike, and he was convinced it had to be on the album. That happened with a couple different ideas, and because they were so fresh and in the moment we knew we had to include them.”

There is another integral Ness in the picture as well, as Mike’s son Julian Ness recently joined Jackson’s band as lead guitarist where he plays alongside her longtime rhythm section of Jake Vukovich and Tyler Miller. She credits this constant swarm of male energy with helping to thicken her skin, and she has learned to shuck any shame or sensitivity that used to accompany her strong sense of empathy while recognizing the freedom that comes from maintaining healthy self-care and a singular focus on what she is trying to accomplish with her songs.

From Wilderness’s opening blast “Bottle It Up” to its closing whisper, “Secret,” it’s clear that Jackson’s music delivers on multiple powerful levels. Written to the beat of her own feet’s pace while jogging, the opener is a standout upbeat number that reveals Jackson’s ability to be deep and breezy all at once. The twangy guitar and whip-smart backbeat propel the tune and the album that follows with ease and tarnished grace. One of “Bottle It Up”’s subjects appears again in the title and tale of “Loneliness,” a slow-burning, tender ballad about Jackson’s own heartrending battle with those feelings.

“The first five years of my 20’s were really lonely,” she says. “In college I was shy, and my accident had distanced me from the rest of the kids. I would go to concerts just so somebody would rub up on my arm as they walked by so I could get some type of human connection. I was starved for it. Loneliness was always on my mind and in my soul, and when that song came to me, I started thinking about all the different people who are lonely—it can surround any situation if you let it in. The idea that you don’t have to be alone to feel lonely birthed that song, and the music reflects that vibe.”

But on an album filled with touching moments and honest plunges into personal experience, perhaps the most profound encounter comes from its final breath. “Secret,” the song that came to Jackson while driving, tells a story of addiction, loss, and the heartbreak that accompanies not just death itself but of a failure to fulfill dreams and to escape the tethers of home. As Jackson’s gorgeous voice belts out the chorus of “All the walls inside me fell down/ I don’t want my bones to be buried in this town,” know that the emotion, just like the story, is real. “That chorus came to my mind first,” she says, “and I started screaming it, like I was channeling the person in that song. A lot of little feelings that hurt me, or that I have suppressed, sometimes pop up when I sing. If you push a buoy down in the water then let go, it shoots up quickly. Sometimes that happens with sadness in my songwriting.”

Whether holding down the buoy of your feelings or holding up a mirror to your life, self-examination and reflection is no easy undertaking, especially when mining your darkest moments for material to put into song. With Wilderness, Jade Jackson has braved the depths of her soul and figured out a course for survival—though she will be the first to admit that her journey still has miles to go.

“The message of ‘Wilderness’ is in how to get through all those tough situations—if you visualize yourself somewhere, all that good energy and intention can get you where you want to be. That doesn’t happen if you have doubt or fear; in the wilderness, it’ll get you eaten by a lion. So you have to figure out how to get through it. There are always solutions if you’re open to them.”