On the Road

Jesse Colin Young began as a blues singer accompanying himself on guitar, moved into folk rock with the Youngbloods, and went on to become a singer-songwriter with broad interests in soul, jazz and country. In a sense, this was a typical path for a 1960s folk musician. His distinction was that he did not use these styles as separate devices: retaining an organic flavour, he brought them together into an integrated sound.

Having steadily accumulated albums throughout the 1970s, Young made this live record at what could be called his most fulfilled period. Recorded on his 1975 tour, it pairs his superb soulful tenor with a regular band whose jazz-and-soul-inflected playing is a perfect match. The Youngbloods song ‘Sunlight,’ a Marvin Gaye medley of ‘What's Going On’ and ‘Mercy Mercy Me,’ and ‘Ridgetop,’ celebrating his life in Northern California, all show voice and performance of both refinement and handmade warmth, bringing sympathy and pleasure. It is his best, and at the same time a record of one of the singer-songwriter era's happiest moments.