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email Backwoods Jack

    Jack, more than anything else, is a prolific writer.  Oh, he studied Art in college and his mother was a well-known St. Louis Artist,  but he just can’t keep from writing.  Growing up near Washington University, he was drawn to the early coffee house scene in Gaslight Square where he learned folk guitar method from people such as Pat Webb.  He taught himself ragtime piano and befriended the famous ragophile, Trebor Tichenor.  He’s something of a “Refugee from a wealthy family” as the Joni Mitchell song goes.  His estate is surreal but he’s friendly and kind of easy-going.  Just don’t get him started talking about the government.

   The emergence of a school of music and poetry centered around the history and mythology of the American hobo has inspired him for years now.  He is attempting to carry on the tradition of U. Utah Phillips and Jimmie Rodgers while performing and  preserving their work.  There’s a handful of other great performers specializing in this genre.  They gather in Britt, Iowa annually for the Hobo Convention and other Railroad Festivals.

CD’s   $14.99

Backwoods Jack Music Videos and his hobo video playlist.

You probably don’t know Jack, but you might like to, after hearing his low moody voice interpret traditional Hobo songs by U. Utah Phillips and Jimmie Rodgers.

Original hobo poetry.

You Don’t Know Jack,  Backwoods Jack

Not Gone.. But Forgotten,

Backwoods Jack

Jack actually was an itinerant orchard worker for many years and brings some real feeling to songs of the working poor and disenfranchised.

Road Relics,  Backwoods Jack

Retired to his 20 acre estate of  antique and junk cars,  Jack is settling into the life of a retired traveler along with the other disintegrating objects.  Many original hobo and folk ballads.

I’m Certainly Living A Hobo’s Life,

Backwoods Jack

Jack was a dumpster diver before there were dumpsters.  His face and his music tell the stories he carries from a lifetime spent pursuing lost and discarded treasures.

Watch the Episode of “American Pickers” that features Jack.   

They call him “Hobo” Jack.  

Jack’s segment is about half way through the episode at 21:44