Down River: In Search of David Ackles, out August 15 via Jawbone press, is the latest book from storied journalist Mark Brend. Brend’s knowledge of and passion for the somewhat obscure but renowned American-born musician is evident throughout the pages of this new volume. Ackles, whose perhaps most widely known LP is 1972’s American Gothic (which was produced by Bernie Taupin), would earn accolades from Elvis Costello, Jim O’Rourke, Elton John and others but would never land a major audience in his home country.
The 1973 effort, Five & Dime, emerged on the Columbia label and marked the end Ackles’ recording career. When he passed in 1999, his music was appreciated by collectors and deep divers but he had not and still has not experienced a deep and sustained interest in his work the way that artists such as Judee Sill and others have. Perhaps Down River is one step toward correcting this and setting the stage for Ackles work to at last find the wider audience it so deeply deserves.
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