Must I Dream and Always See Your Face?

Born on this day in 1966, Jeff Buckley, the son of singer Tim Buckley, didn’t really follow in his father’s footsteps musically (although their vocal ranges were similar), instead drawing on artists like Leonard Cohen, Led Zeppelin, Edith Piaf and Nina Simone (listen to his and her versions of “Lilac Wine”) and many more. But he took so much and made it his own. Original and mind-blowing.

He emerged in New York City’s avant-garde club scene in the 1990’s as one of the most remarkable musical artists of his generation, acclaimed by audiences, critics, and fellow musicians alike. His first commercial recording, the four-song EP Live At Sin-é, was released in December 1993 on Columbia Records. The EP captured Buckley, accompanying himself on electric guitar, in a tiny coffeehouse in New York’s East Village, the neighborhood he’d made his home.

Buckley’s only studio album, Grace, released in 1994, was mind-blowing. Here was an artist who wanted to create beautiful music – it wasn’t radio friendly during a time when radio was looking for the next big thing post-grunge. He was the knight who rode in a horse armed with one of the most amazing ranges and gorgeous voices you’ve ever heard.

While the music was hypnotic – We can’t ignore Buckley’s guitar playing either. It was nimbler and more melodic and made much greater use of reverb than the distortion that other artists in 1994 were using. His playing could lull you to sleep and jar you awake in a split second.

The songs still hold up and make new fans of Buckley every year. Grace drew praise from many of his idols: Bob Dylan called Buckley “one of the great songwriters of this decade” while David Bowie once claimed Grace to be among his favorite albums ever made.

On the evening of May 29, 1997, Buckley's band flew to Memphis to join him in his studio to work on his new material. The same evening, Buckley went swimming fully dressed in Wolf River Harbor, a slack water channel of the Mississippi River. He drowned that night.

The loss we feel from musicians/artists (Lennon, Cobain, Biggie, etc.) is very personal. We get so wrapped in their music, that they themselves become part of our lives. Jeff Buckley is one of those artists for me.