by ANDREW DARLINGTON
The entrancing mythic lyricism of ‘Wild Thyme’ draws on Wiccan pastoral imagery, ‘dance our ringlets to the moon, stand the spuming sea as hoary headed frosts unwind.’ While the video is rifted with decorous pre-Raphaelite visions as Dorie Jackson invites her autumn moon lover to join the ‘dawnce’. It’s already my favourite track of the month.
‘What kind of thing were you looking for?’ enquires Dorie in response to my ask for details. She wears a tight bright knitted hat pulled low over escaping tendrils of her long wild hair. ‘I’m not sure I’ll be much help. But to answer your question, I am just the mere interpreter.’ She defers in a self-deprecating way. ‘This track was written by the producer and keyboard player Mike Westergaard… I’ve found this album really plays to my strengths with regard to that, as interpreting and arranging vocals is really my forte, or certainly the bit I love the most…’
The album – Stupid Says Run (2025, Talking Elephant), promises great things. Although she’s wary of taking too much credit.
‘You don’t surprise me’ laughs band member Nick Jefferson, ‘Dorie is usually reluctant to acknowledge her talent!’
Dorie began singing pro as back-up vocalist for Francis Dunnery, the It Bites star. Francis complains, with some irony, that ‘Calling All The Heroes’ was to It Bites what ‘Hi Ho Silver Lining’ was to Jeff Beck. It was an instantly recognised hit, but one that was not necessarily representative of what the band do. Dorie’s first gig with him was at no less than the 2001 Cropredy Folk Festival. It must have been intimidating, but her vocal magic radiated from the stage to the extent that she was invited onto subsequent tours and recording, with Francis. She appears both on his own records and on releases by other Aquarian Nation signings. She sings on Duke Special’s Oh Pioneer (2012, Adventures In Gramophone AIG009) and Dunnery’s There’s A Whole New World Out There (2009, AN0011).
Dorie is daughter of Prog-legend David Jackson of cult band Van Der Graaf Generator. The father-&-daughter duo appear together on albums by the experimental art-Rock collective named after the mathematical concept, Kaprekar’s Constant. They are part of the Fate Outsmarts Desire (2017, Uranium Club UCV92001) album, with Dorie taking stand-out vocals on the follow-up Depth Of Field (2019, Talking Elephant Records TECD434). The ‘Prog Magazine’ reviewer said that ‘the twenty-one-minute centrepiece, ‘Houdini – King Of Cards’, is an album in itself and Dorie Jackson’s beautiful vocals play deliciously off her father’s sax. A reminder that English classic Prog is alive with much to say.’ Then, with Judie Tzuke guesting, they take the Eiger Sanction for The Murder Wall (2022 TECD472). For Nick Jefferson, ‘Dorie’s father, David, appears on many of the tracks on her album. Many will know him from his work with Prog-Rock pioneers Van der Graaf Generator, and with other artists such as Peter Gabriel and Keith Tippett.’ In a recent interview David himself comments ‘I’m working on several projects now. My most urgent one is a new record by Dorie Jackson, my daughter. She’s making a new LP with the musicians from Karpekar’s Constant, which is a band that I really love. I’ve played lots of concerts with them, and I’ve played on all of their records, but they are now writing a folk album just for Dorie and I’m playing some flute and some whistles, some gentle parts, not big sax parts. So, I’m working on Dorie’s new LP and CD…’
It’s easy to imagine that when Dorie was growing up the home was filled with music and musicians, which must have fuelled her own creativity. She sings ‘I picked a flower from the garden of the house where I was born’ multi-tracked into self-harmonies on ‘Railway Station Boy’. Do you have good memories of growing up in that way? ‘My Dad – David Jackson, was inspiration enough – though obviously there were many musicians in the house, and I loved a bit of earwigging. I often went into my Dad’s studio and was given the second pair of headphones – usually the old decrepit ones, and sat and listened while he recorded double horns, jumping all over the shop to some loony Prog tune.’ Dorie’s brother – Jake Jackson, has entered the technical side of music, as a recording engineer.
Dorie has also provided backing vocals for Chris Difford, she’s there in dark shades when they perform ‘Goodbye Girl’ in the charity Vibes From The Vines video-clip. While she sings ‘I Used To Be Pretty’, with strange string-arrangements on the 2023 Kenton Hall & The Necessary Measures album Omniopath. As a self-confessed interpreter, she sings and makes the song very much her own. ‘Well, sadly there are moments in all of our lives when we missed the moment, when we actually looked quite acceptable or even thin… hindsight can be a bitter pill!’
I like that track. Is she not entirely happy with the way it worked out? ‘Oh yes, I think all recordings are moments in time and ‘of that time’ and though I’d alter and tweak for days I’m always surprisingly pleased when I return to listen to things some years later…’
Exactly. Yes… as an artist, maybe we seek impossible perfections? Following a 1994 cassette-single ‘American Life In The Summertime’, her own debut album – The Courting Ground (2007, Aquarian Nation AN008) arrived with sleeve-art of a fairy peering from behind a tree in a magic-mushroom strewn enchanted wood. Its twelve tracks run from acoustic simplicity with beguiling harmonies, that build into complex patterns through David’s saxophone and Melvin Duffy’s haunting pedal steel guitar. She yearns through the years for the imaginary lover to walk her through the courting ground. She can walk on water and ride a ‘Rocketship To Mars’ but can’t find a way into his heart. Her voice does decorous Kate Bush dances around woodwind and smears of sax. ‘What have I done? Don’t judge me’ she pleads over the thrumming rhythm-density of ‘Songbird’, riding and interacting with shifting instrumental textures, before dropping to near-acapella to invite ‘songbird, spread your loving wings and take me to the sun in time for morning.’
And while she admits that ‘interpreting and arranging vocals is really my forte,’ she co-wrote all but one of the songs on The Courting Ground with Francis Dunnery, and that is one very strong album. ‘Well, that’s kind of you to say’ she says, ‘but it’s not quite so literal as all that, as I’m writing vocal parts and lines here and there, all the arranging is composing of sorts. Nick Jefferson’s storytelling is not just inventive and poetic but wonderful to sing to life.’
Nick himself tells me ‘the tracks on Stupid Says Run were all co-written by Mike Westergaard, Al Nicholson, myself and Dorie. We have released three Kaprekar’s Constant albums that Dorie sang on for us, but we wanted to record something that properly showcased her extraordinary talent for vocal arrangements as well as her beautiful voice. We tend to work remotely at first but usually meet in the studio when the vocals are ready to be recorded. It’s at this stage that the real magic happens – for us, anyway!, and the music comes to life. We’ve all worked together for around eight years now so we’re quite an efficient unit. We intended the album to be quite acoustic and stripped back compared to the Kaprekar’s Constant material, but it inevitably became more fleshed out as it went along! We are really pleased with the album, hopefully people will find that it reveals more and more layers with subsequent listens. Most importantly, if Dorie’s voice can get heard I really believe she will get the recognition she so richly deserves!’
Why the long gap between solo albums? Well, she’s worked in creative ways with a wide spectrum of creative musicians. Who was it who impressed her most? ‘There are many’ she admits, ‘but Melvin Duffy who’s a pedal steel player that was in and out of Chris Difford’s acoustic act over the years is just such a creative musician, he really pours it all into his playing… and a wonderful man to boot.’ Melvin, who plays dulcimer too, appears on Squeeze albums from 2015s Cradle To The Grave and on.
The second Dorie album – Stupid Says Run (2025, Talking Elephant) draws on her Kaprekar’s Constant colleagues for twelve new songs; founding duo Nick Jefferson on bass, and multi-instrumentalist Al Nicholson on guitar, with Mike Westergaard who plays piano and keyboards, Mark Walker is on drums, plus David Jackson who adds flute, horns and whistles throughout the album. Sean Kelly’s cover-art captures Dorie’s over-the-shoulder photo, as she responds to an intrusive hand on her shoulder.
She premiered some of the Stupid Says Run tracks such as ‘Halfway To The Moon’ and the 9:03-minute ‘The Hypnotist’s Watch’, at the Cromer ‘Folk On The Pier’ Festival, above the North Sea breakers. Piano-led, ‘Wild Thyme’ takes traditional themes of ‘the nine men’s Morris wanes’ to ask ‘will you be my autumn moon’ in ways that melt the soul. For Nick, ‘‘Wild Thyme’ is the first single release from the album. It’s a track that Mike put forward, complete with Shakespeare’s Titania vibe lyrically! It has been favourably well-received so far.’ She fuses elements of Rock, Folk and Prog-Rock, colliding them into some orchestral backing and with Kaprepakar’s trademark storytelling narrative evident throughout, covering lyric-topics as diverse as insomnia, folklore, myths and legends… to losing a loved one to dementia. They all sit happily together alongside tales of historical endeavours, cover-ups, dirty dealing and even the Boer War.
Is there one particular track that works especially well, that you would recommend as a key to the album? Nick says ‘That would change daily but I like ‘Halfway To The Moon’ for its simplicity, storytelling, Dorie’s backing vocal parts and, of course, David’s contribution!’
It could be said, in Dorie’s own words, that she’s ‘Back Again And Starry Eyed’.
‘Oh brill, thanks so much Andy!’ she closes.
BY ANDREW DARLINGTON
‘THE COURTING GROUND’
(2007, Aquarian Nation AN008)
- ‘Songbird’ (Dorie Jackson, Francis Dunnery) 4:59
- ‘Railway Station Boy’ (Stephen Harris) 3:20
- ‘Back Again Starry Eyed’ (Jackson, Dunnery, Harris) 3:57
- ‘The Deep Sea Life’ (Jackson, Dunnery) 6:06
- ‘Too Scared To Say I Love You’ (Jackson, Dunnery) 3:10
6 ‘Looking For James’ (Jackson, Dunnery) 4:12
- ‘Going Away’ (Jackson, Dunnery) 4:54
- ‘Your Love Will Make It Alright’ (Jackson, Dunnery) 4:25
- ‘Never Gonna Break Me’ (Jackson, Dunnery) 3:50
- ‘Rocketship To Mars’ (Jackson, Dunnery) 5:00
- ‘Behind My Back’ (Jackson, Dunnery) 3:55
- ‘The Courting Ground’ (Jackson, Dunnery) 5:59
Dorie Jackson: vocals
Nathan King: bass
Trevor Smith: drums
David Jackson: flute, saxophone
Melvin Duffy: pedal steel guitar
Stephen Harris: harmonica, guitar
Per ‘Flamman’ Westling: guitar
Francis Dunnery: guitar, synth, piano, production
‘STUPID SAYS RUN’
(2025, Talking Elephant Records TECD495)
- ‘Sun Horse’ (Dorie Jackson, Nick Jefferson, Mike Westergaard) 5:25
- ‘The Daylight Gate’ (Jackson, Jefferson, Al Nicholson, Westergaard) 5:14
- ‘Wild Thyme’ (Jackson, Jefferson, Westergaard) 3:31
- ‘Red Sky’ (Jackson, Jefferson, Nicholson, Westergaard) 4:41
- ‘Remember Majuba’ (Jackson, Jefferson, Nicholson, Westergaard) 5:27
- ‘Rise Again’ (Jackson, Jefferson, Nicholson, Westergaard) 4:24
- ‘The Photo’ (Jackson, Jefferson, Nicholson, Westergaard) 3:31
- ‘The Visitor’ (Jackson, Jefferson, Westergaard) 5:13
- ‘Halfway To The Moon’ (Jackson, Jefferson, Nicholson, Westergaard) 5:10
- ‘Paper Chains’ (Jackson, Jefferson, Westergaard) 4:44
- ‘Skylark’ (Jackson, Jefferson, Nicholson, Westergaard) 3:43
- ‘The Hypnotist’s Watch’ (Jackson, Jefferson, Nicholson, Westergaard) 9:03
Dorie Jackson: vocals
Mike Westergaard: guitar, piano, keyboards
Nick Jefferson: guitars, bass
Mark Walker: drums, percussion
Toby Shaer: violin, whistles
Al Nicholson: guitars, keyboards, mandolin
David Jackson: flute, whistles, horns
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