A new version of Jackson Browne’s 1977 album, Running On Empty, with newly remastered sound and a faithful reproduction of the original artwork was released July 5 on CD and 180-gram vinyl.
The album is Browne’s biggest-seller, peaking at #3 on the Billboard chart, and has been certified 7x Platinum by the RIAA for sales of over seven million copies in the U.S. The title track, one of the songs most closely identified with the musician, reached #11 on the pop chart; its follow-up – “The Load-Out”/”Stay” – was also a Top 20 hit.
From the June 6 announcement: Browne went on tour in 1977 with a remarkable group of musicians to create an album about the road, on the road. The result was Running on Empty, a musical portrait of life on tour that is as brutally honest as it is achingly beautiful. Paul Nelson wrote in his original Rolling Stone review of the album that “Browne has consciously created a documentary, as brightly prosaic as it is darkly poetic, with a keen eye for the mundane as well as the magical.”
The album features 10 live performances recorded in 1977 between August 17 and September 18 by Browne and his band: guitarist Danny Kortchmar; David Lindley on fiddle and lap steel guitar; keyboardist Craig Doerge; bassist Leland Sklar; drummer Russ Kunkel; and background vocalists Doug Haywood and Rosemary Butler. Together, they took an unconventional and, at the time, profoundly innovative approach to recording these songs, opting for natural settings while on the road, such as a Holiday Inn hotel room, a backstage rehearsal space, on a tour bus, and on stage.
The singer-songwriter has also written such classic rock songs as “Take it Easy,” “The Pretender” and “Doctor My Eyes.” Browne was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.
He is touring in 2019; tickets are available here and here.
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