Jackson Browne, The #83 Artist of the Rock Era, Part Three

We conclude the salute to Jackson Browne with Part Three of this special.

 

By 1986, Browne's political activism began to be more reflected in his music, as evidenced by the album Lives in the Balance.  The title song was a strong condemnation of U.S.-backed wars in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala.

 

The album was certified Gold, his eighth straight release to do so.  The single "For America" reached #3 on the Mainstream Rock chart.

 "Lawless Avenues", Browne's take about the streets of Los Angeles, is another outstanding song.

 

The title song is one of Jackson's all-time best.

 

The single "In The Shape Of A Heart" reached #10 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

 Browne performed several concerts for causes such as Farm Aid and Amnesty International.  In 1989, Jackson released the album World in Motion.  The title song hit #4 on the Mainstream Rock chart.

 

In 1993, Browne released the album I'm Alive, another Gold album, featuring the title song.

 

"Sky Blue And Black" is another of Browne's career best.  Written over a period of four years, it very likely is about Jackson's relationship with actress Daryl Hannah.

 

"Take This Rain", another song about Hannah, who left Browne for John F. Kennedy, Jr., is another Top Track*.

 Browne released the album Looking East in 1996 with another of his career best, "Barricades Of Heaven".

 

The title song is another standout track.

Jackson released the first of his compilation albums in 1997, The Next Voice Your Hear:  The Best of Jackson Browne, which has sold over one million units.

In 2002, Browne released the album The Naked Ride Home.  Also that year, Jackson received the John Steinbeck Award, given to "artists who exemplify the environmental and social values that Steinbeck believed in".  The compilation The Best of Jackson Browne in 2004 went Gold.

In 2004, Jackson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and was named an honorary Doctor of Music by Occidental College in Los Angeles for "a remarkable musical career that has successfully combined an intensely personal artistry with a broader vision of social justice."  Browne also received the Courage of Conscience Award from The Peace Abbey in Sherborn, Massachusetts.

In 2007, he was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame and was awarded the Chapin World Hunger Year Harry Chapin Humanitatian Award.

Browne recorded performances of several of his song for the album Solo Acoustic, Vol. 1 in 2005, which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album.  

In 2008, Jackson followed with Solo Acoustic, Vol. 2 and also released the studio album Time the Conqueror.

In 2014, Browne released the album Standing in the Breach.

Out of 15 career hits, two made it into the Top 10.  But as is the case of an artist with depth, such as is the case with Metallica, Dan Fogelberg and Joni Mitchell, hits don't tell the story.  He has sold over 25 million albums in the U.S. alone.  Browne has landed 11 career hits on the Mainstream Rock chart, with six reaching the Top 10, and that chart wasn't in existence during the prime of Jackson's career in which he likely would have placed dozens of other songs on a similar chart.