For those unaware, two Doobies plus one Creedence equals a Jackdawg. Drawing upon decades of experience in the rock ’n’ roll world, three friends got together to make a straightforward rock album.

Multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter John McFee joined The Doobies in 1979. By that point, his credits included sessions with Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello, The Grateful Dead, Rick James, The Steve Miller Band. Stu Cook was best known for his bass playing in Creedence Clearwater Revival, with whom he earned a string of 14 Top Ten singles and five Top Ten albums. CCR broke up in 1972, with Cook venturing into music production with Roky Erickson’s 1980 release The Evil One.

Drummer, singer and songwriter Keith Knudsen joined The Doobie Bros in 1974; he would be featured on a six-album run of Top Ten albums by that group. An all-around musician, Knudsen also played and recorded with Lee Michaels, Carly Simon, Paul Williams, Emmylou Harris. Keith passed away in 2005.

By the early 80’s, The Doobies were on hiatus. McFee and Knudsen would continue together, in 1983 forming the new country rock group Southern Pacific. Stu Cook joined them in 1986. During its nine-year run, Southern Pacific landed three of its four albums in the Top 40 on Billboard’s Country chart. The new songs they were writing had none of the country flavor of their earlier collaboration and the new project wasn’t designed to cater to any style: Let’s not have guidelines, barriers or rules about this, they decided.

Reflecting the combined and shared musical sensibilities of its creators, Jackdawg ended up being a pop-rock album. Complementing Jackdawg’s original material, a pair of inspired covers round out the album. The band turns in a fine and fiery reading of Roky Erickson’s Cold Night for Alligators, a song first heard on The Evil One and they decided to cover Van Morrison’s Wild Night but took it in a very different direction.

1. Bayou Rebel
2. When The Sun Don’t Shine
3. The Men Who Would Be King
4. Hunger
5. Ghost Dance
6. Take It Off
7. Kisses In The Rain
8. I Couldn’t Help Myself
9. Quicksand
10. Lookin’ For Trouble
11. Relentless
12. Young Ones
13. The Girl From Oz
14. Cold Night For Alligators
15. Wild Night

One of the bedrock acts that formed the template for the “Americana” music movement, they open this recording on the throaty blues of Bayou Rebel and the rootsy blues rocker When The Sun Don’t Shine and then we get the grounded out AOR of The Men Who Would Be King, the shimmering 80’s sounding Hunger, the propellent Ghost Dance, before both the rhythmic rocker Take It Off and the mid-tempo beauty Kisses In The Rain are brought forth.

Then we are gifted the foot tapper I Couldn’t Help Myself and the deeper guitar-fed Quicksand and they are in turn backed seamlessly by the arena rock of Lookin’ For Trouble, the gentle AOR of Relentless and the smooth melodic rock of Young Ones, the set rounding out on guitar frenzy that drives The Girl From Oz, the reverberating Cold Night For Alligators, coming to a close on their resplendent rendition of Wild Night.

Musicians:
Keith Knudsen - drums, background vocals
John McFee - lead vocals, guitars, harmonica, keyboards, background vocals
Stu Cook - bass, background vocals