- [Announcer] Here's the story.

[audience cheering] - Thank you so much, everybody.

We have one quick one left for you.

We're Jackson Pines.

Thank you so much for having us, Stone Pony.

Love you guys.

And this one starts with James Black on the bass.

[upbeat music] [audience cheering] Francis Dean on the drums and the vocals, everyone.

[audience cheering] Mr. Max Carmichael on guitar and the mandolin.

[audience cheering] I'm Joe, and we're Jackson Pines.

Thanks so much.

One, two, one, two, three, hey!

[upbeat music continues] ♪ Listen, people, I'll tell a tale ♪ ♪ About a time and place we all know well ♪ ♪ And it's hard times in the Pines ♪ ♪ Try to live in a tent, but you can't stay there ♪ ♪ They're gonna kick you out the woods and say it's fair ♪ ♪ And it's hard times in the Pines ♪ ♪ I know a girl by the name of Jane ♪ ♪ She was pretty, but she threw it away ♪ ♪ Hard times in the Pines ♪ ♪ She started to strip so she could buy cocaine ♪ ♪ But next thing it was crack in the pouring rain ♪ ♪ Hard times in the Pines ♪ ♪ The rooster crow says you got to go ♪ ♪ Instead you're handcuffed by the po ♪ ♪ It's hard times in the Pines ♪ ♪ And people come and go ♪ ♪ So outta luck but so hard to know ♪ ♪ Who's your friend and who's your foe ♪ ♪ Hard times in the Pines ♪ [upbeat music continues] [upbeat music continues] ♪ I've got friends, and they've paid my debt ♪ ♪ They're trying to find something to fix their head ♪ ♪ But it's hard times in the Pines ♪ ♪ Some of us sleep and some of us dream ♪ ♪ Some of us cheat and steal to earn the cream ♪ ♪ It's hard times in the Pines ♪ ♪ Oh, but I don't mind living in those Pines ♪ ♪ When it's finally sunny summertime ♪ ♪ And I'm swimming in a blue hole in the Pines ♪ ♪ The rooster crow says you got to go ♪ ♪ Instead you're handcuffed by the po ♪ ♪ It's hard times in the Pines ♪ ♪ And the people come and they go ♪ ♪ So outta luck but so hard to know ♪ ♪ Who's your friend and who's your foe ♪ ♪ And it's hard times in the Pines ♪ [indistinct] [upbeat music continues] [upbeat music continues] ♪ Well, the rooster crow says you got to go ♪ ♪ Instead you're handcuffed by the po ♪ ♪ It's hard times in the Pines ♪ ♪ And the people, they come and they go ♪ ♪ So outta luck but so hard to know ♪ ♪ Who's your friend and who's your foe ♪ ♪ And it's hard times in the Pines, yeah ♪ ♪ Hard times in the Pines ♪ ♪ Pretty mamba ♪ ♪ It's hard times ♪ ♪ In the Pines ♪ [audience cheering] Thank you so much, everyone.

We're Jackson Pines.

We love you.

[indistinct] [audience cheering] Goodnight!

[gentle music] [gentle music continues] - [Narrator] In 2015, we spent some time with the band Thomas Wesley Stern, documenting a special moment in time for a special band of brothers.

Since then, their fortunes have found them separated by distance in different states, pursuing their own dreams.

Joe and James Black continue to write, record, and travel, playing music around the country as Jackson Pines, as their name and everything about them relates to their roots, their home.

We caught up with them again as they concluded an extended tour with two final shows, one at the famed Stone Pony in Asbury Park, and one that is for all intents and purposes their home stage, the Albert Music Hall in Waretown, New Jersey.

[gentle music continues] - This year was the first time in a long time that we've been able to play a lotta shows consistently.

Since 2020, you know, we've played a lot of really important shows and a lot of really great shows, but we were never able to string a lot together, and especially, we weren't able to get in the truck and go on the road for any period of time.

So this year we were able to finally book a nice little run that started in Jersey City in June.

And it took us through North Jersey.

It took us through the Hudson River Valley in New York.

We went up through New England.

We played in Maine on the Maine Coast.

So that's a nice welcome back to touring and playing, which we did need.

And it got the band really strong and feeling tight together and everything.

That really became a nice, like, eight, nine-week little run of shows for us there.

And yeah, the last show we played of that run was right here at Albert Music Hall, and we had a great time.

It was so nice to bring it all back home at the end of that ride.

[upbeat music] [upbeat music continues] ♪ When you go to Mt.

Holly ♪ ♪ It's there you will sit ♪ ♪ Rum and tobacco ♪ ♪ You won't get a bit ♪ ♪ And there's rats, rats ♪ ♪ As big as a whale ♪ ♪ Bound to get lousy in Mt.

Holly Jail ♪ ♪ Yes, it's hard times in the Mt.

Holly Jail ♪ ♪ Hard times in the Mt.

Holly Jail ♪ ♪ Hard times in the Mt.

Holly Jail ♪ ♪ Hard, hard times ♪ - [Joe] Yeah, so where we are right now is in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, and it starts all the way down a little bit north of Cape May, and it goes all the way along the eastern edge of the state, and it goes up to where we're from in Jackson.

And where we're from is kind of where the Pine Barrens begin to end, so we're not like from deep, deep in the center of the Pine Barrens, but it's still where we're from.

It's the woods we grew up in.

It's where we started hiking and playing music and camping with our friends, and it's a huge part of our, you know, identity as artists.

So that's why we're Jackson Pines.

♪ Hard times in the Mt.

Holly Jail ♪ ♪ Hard, hard times ♪ [upbeat music continues] [upbeat music continues] - Most of our music is original.

We write the words and lyrics and the music and all that.

And that comprises about 80% of what we play live now.

But still, that music is highly influenced by where we grew up.

I mean, the songs are all stories, whether they're based on our own lives, or people we knew growing up's lives, or people we met on the road, whether it was in New Jersey or in Nashville or in Maine.

It goes beyond just folk music, too, because when we grew up, there was a huge punk rock scene, a huge indie scene in our hometown.

James was a bass player in a punk band.

I was an acoustic emo songwriter.

And our bands would play together all the time.

I mean, that influences our music just as much.

- Yeah, big time.

- But at the same rate, you know, we grew up, and then transitioning from indie music to starting to play folk music when we were about 20, 21.

I was living in New York City at the time.

Him and my friends would come meet me at Washington Square, and we would play under the arch like Woody Guthrie did, like all the greats did.

And it kind of, instead of leading us outward, it kinda led us back home, because people would say like, "Where are you from?

", and we would say, "New Jersey," and they'd be like, "Folk music from New Jersey?

What does that sound like?"

♪ Take my coat, take my hat ♪ ♪ Don't you see, you're never gonna bury me ♪ ♪ Take my name for to drag it down ♪ And to be honest, we didn't know for a while, but when we started coming to Albert Hall and listening to the bands playing here, we discovered what it really was, what it sounded like, what makes it what it is.

And then, discovering the Merce Ridgeway, Jr.

Recordings with the New Pine Hawkers, we started learning those songs, and now it's just part of the DNA.

Now it's influencing new songs we write, even.

♪ Put me under this here tree ♪ ♪ I'll come back like the sun ♪ ♪ Bones and ash and a heart that hums ♪ ♪ So you see, you're never gonna bury me ♪ That's what I'm talking about.

[upbeat music continues] [upbeat music continues] And then a verse, and then a chorus, so... ♪ Mama, bury me ♪ ♪ Bury me ♪ ♪ Put me under this here tree ♪ ♪ I'll come back, like the sun ♪ ♪ Bones and ash and a heart that hums ♪ ♪ So you see, you're never gonna bury me ♪ Then it's you.

[upbeat music continues] - [Host] Hello, Albert Music Hall.

Can you hear me okay?

- [Audience] Yeah!

- Yeah?

I wanna welcome you to the famous, infamous, the wonderful, beautiful Albert Music Hall.

I'm gonna ask you to please join me by standing for our national anthem.

["Star-Spangled Banner"] - I mean, look around.

There's nowhere like this in the rest of the state of New Jersey.

And also, most people wouldn't expect a place like this, a music venue that's dedicated to bluegrass, country music, folk music, in New Jersey, because New Jersey doesn't normally get associated with that kinda music.

This is the time capsule.

This is the museum.

This is the living venue that, every Saturday night, there is live New Jersey folk music, country, bluegrass.

It started as a weekly concert in Waretown, where we are right now, but it was an auction ring, and every concert they put on was to raise money to build this place.

And it took 'em over 20 years to get the money together and the land grants and the COs to build it.

But it all goes back to a group of people who were musicians in the Pine Barrens that met each other by hanging out in the woods at a place called The Home Place.

And that was the hunting cabin and hunting lodge of two brothers who were actually from like North Jersey named the Albert Brothers, and that's why this is Albert Music Hall - In the '50s, this location was very remote.

The parkway had not been built yet, and everything past south of Tom's River was dirt roads.

It was not very accessible, and not many people lived here.

- [Journalist] The reason we're here today is to go in here and speak to Joe, and see if we might be able to get permission to film here, film him.

[bright music] - So there was George and Joe, and they were living in their cabin, and they started inviting people from the area to come in.

"Bring your instruments.

Come on over, we'll play."

And they started doing this every Saturday night.

Eventually, it was this big club of people, and if you we invited inside the cabin, you were in.

But after a while, they started writing articles about this gathering that was in the woods in Waretown, and it started to grow.

And after a while, it got to be too much for the brothers, and the people who were his friends decided to try it out at a building on Route 9, rent some space, see if other people would enjoy this music.

- It was beautiful.

It was just people getting together, setting up chairs.

Everybody had a different job, just like here, just like modern days.

Everybody had a different job.

One person volunteered as the sound man, one person volunteered to do chairs, some of the wives baked, some of the other people did publicity, and it went on beautiful.

So after that point, they decided, "Well, maybe we could do this every week."

[upbeat music] [singer singing indistinctly] - And here we are, all these years later.

But it started out with a club type feeling, just people getting together, having fun.

And the only denominator holding everyone together was music.

Music was the common thing for everybody.

It didn't make any difference what your job was, where you came from, you liked music and you were in, and it was enjoyable.

- And I am proud to introduce tonight to you Jackson Pines.

Give 'em a round of applause!

[audience cheering] - Thank you so much, everybody.

Hello, hello.

Check one, check two.

[upbeat music] [upbeat music continues] [upbeat music] [upbeat music continues] ♪ Bury that bone in your big backyard ♪ ♪ Bury the dog when he's lived too long ♪ ♪ Bury this, bury that ♪ ♪ Take my coat, take my hat ♪ ♪ Don't you see, you're never gonna bury me ♪ ♪ Take my name for to drag it down ♪ ♪ Pull it with a truck all over town ♪ ♪ Grind it up, feed the swine ♪ ♪ Scatter it all through my pines ♪ ♪ Don't you see, you're never gonna bury me ♪ ♪ Mama, bury me ♪ ♪ Bury me ♪ ♪ Put me under this here tree ♪ ♪ I'll come back, just like the sun ♪ ♪ Bones and ash and a heart that hums ♪ ♪ Don't you see, you're never gonna bury me ♪ ♪ That's right ♪ Our sound starts with me and James.

We have a more expanded band now, an expanded sound.

We do acoustic shows here, where we have, you know extra string players, some mandolin, some guitar, some other stuff, banjo, and then we have a full band venue kind of sound, too, which includes drum set, and a little bit sometimes electric guitar, but I still mainly play my acoustic guitar, and his standup bass.

So kinda to sum it up in a more simple way, the sound of Jackson Pines is the sound of me and James's string-based rhythm, that is really...

Without James, I play a little differently.

Without me, he plays a little differently.

But when we play together, we meet in the middle, and there's a rhythmic pulse that we get with just guitar and bass.

That is what our sound is kind of basically built from.

And that's the core of it, whether we're playing with five other musicians backing us up, or whether it's just me and James, which is the core of the band.

It's that rhythmic string pulse that we create together, and then on top of it is story set to melody.

And I think that that is the basis of the sound.

Everything else is the cherry on top.

♪ Mama, bury me ♪ ♪ Bury me ♪ ♪ Ooh, Lord ♪ ♪ Put me underneath that tree ♪ ♪ I'll come back, just like the sun ♪ ♪ With bones and ash and a heart that hums ♪ ♪ Don't you see, you're never gonna bury me ♪ ♪ I said, bury her, bury him ♪ ♪ We would rise up again ♪ ♪ Don't you see me, you're never gonna bury me ♪ ♪ So hope you see, you're never gonna bury me ♪ [audience cheering] Thank you so much, everybody.

We're so honored and glad to be back here at Albert Music Hall.

[harmonica chimes] We played here in April, but in April, it was the first time we'd played here in about six, seven years.

It was far too long.

Thank you guys so much for welcoming us back with your loving arms wide open.

We're glad to be back here.

And we're gonna play a Merce Ridgeway.

Thank you.

[audience applauding] So, many of you know that one of the people who helped start this whole place was Merce Ridgeway, Jr.

So we're gonna play a song by Merce Ridgeway, Sr. right now, his father, that he used to play a lot.

And this song is called "Depression Song."

And it's one of those really interesting folk blues Depression tunes.

Most of the Depression blues songs are about how people couldn't figure out what to do, and had the blues But this unique Pine Barrens Barnegat Bay folk tune is about how Pine Barrens folk always knew what to do in hard times.

And it goes like this.

[upbeat music] [upbeat music continues] ♪ Things were mighty tough down in the Pines in 1929 ♪ ♪ Set in the city for a bowl of soup ♪ ♪ You got city folk waiting in line ♪ ♪ You know, FDR sent me down some Jack ♪ ♪ Sent me down hobnail boots ♪ ♪ Folks started dancing on Saturday night ♪ ♪ My, how the splinters flew ♪ The Albert Hall, I mean, it feels like going to church.

It feels like coming home.

This is for... And, you know we play the Stone Pony with heart, but this is for the heart and soul of, like, what we do, because we are a folk band at heart.

We didn't start as a rock and roll band.

So everything that led us to this point, meeting Pete Seeger when we were 20 years old, bouncing around backyards and coffee houses until someone got our CD to someone here, it all led us to this sort of promised land, that is not only preserving the history, but it's making history.

It's creating the history of the future, because every week, except for maybe one a year, there is a stacked lineup, and a couple of times a year, there's like a full, like, 10, 12 all-day lineup.

And yeah, coming here, it feels like coming home, and it also feels like coming to church, because when you come here, you know that what you do is understood almost immediately.

There's no... You know, no one here goes, "New Jersey folk music?

", and cocks their head like you said Alaskan champagne or something.

You know what I mean?

It's like, "Yeah, of course."

Thanks so much everybody.

We're so honored and glad to be back here at Albert Music Hall.

We really got into folk music when we were about, I guess, maybe 16, 17 years ago, when we were getting outta high school.

At that time, you know, James had a great record collection.

We started getting really into the music.

And then we discovered Albert Music Hall, and started learning about the real tradition of American folk music in South Jersey, and Pine Barrens folk music.

We learned it was a real thing, a beautiful thing.

And a couple of years ago, we discovered an archive of Merce Ridgeway recordings, and we've been doing our best to learn the songs, interpret them our own way.

I admit, we don't play 'em exactly how the Pine Hawkers did.

But it will be a disservice to try to copy it exactly.

But this is our way of keeping the tradition going.

We've been playing these songs all around the Northeast this summer, up in Maine, in New York, and at the Philly Folk Festival.

So people are hearing Merce Ridgeway all over now, and we'd like to do one more of his songs tonight.

This is a country song Merce Ridgeway, Sr. Wrote.

It's called "Love is a Gamble," and it goes like this.

[bright music] [bright music continues] ♪ Like the shores of the ocean ♪ ♪ Are so far apart ♪ ♪ I know I'm to blame ♪ ♪ For the pain in your heart ♪ ♪ But you're part of my life ♪ ♪ Each day, I dream, I weep ♪ ♪ I told you so often ♪ ♪ That you just won't believe ♪ ♪ Love is a gamble ♪ ♪ The stakes are so high ♪ ♪ If you don't take a chance ♪ ♪ Love passes by ♪ [bright music continues] [bright music continues] ♪ You said that I'm a drifter ♪ ♪ That I just won't stay ♪ ♪ By the first autumn leaf ♪ ♪ You say I'll be on my way ♪ ♪ But tell me that you love me ♪ ♪ And I will never leave ♪ ♪ Well, I told you so often ♪ ♪ That you just won't believe ♪ ♪ Love is a gamble ♪ ♪ Oh, the stakes are so high ♪ ♪ If you don't take a chance ♪ ♪ Love passes by ♪ ♪ If you don't take a chance ♪ ♪ Love passes by ♪ [audience cheering] That's by Merce Ridgeway, Sr., father of one of the founders of Albert Music Hall.

And this is the spot that was, you know, blessed or consecrated to be the center of that world.

So we're just lucky that we get to be a part of it, and that they welcome us with open arms.

And it's a place where you can play Merce Ridgeway, and the people look at the walls.

When we did it last time, people were pointing and looking, going, "Wait!

Yeah, I know that."

So it's just a, it's a really special experience to be able to be a part of the family.

One, two, here we go!

[upbeat music] [upbeat music continues] ♪ Listen, people, I'll tell a tale ♪ ♪ About a time and place we all know well ♪ ♪ 'Cause it's hard times in the Pines ♪ ♪ You live in a tent, but you can't stay there ♪ ♪ They're gonna kick you out the woods and say it's fair ♪ ♪ 'Cause it's hard times in the Pines ♪ ♪ I know a girl by the name of Jane ♪ ♪ She was pretty, but she threw it away ♪ ♪ Hard times in the Pines ♪ ♪ Well, she started to strip for to buy cocaine ♪ ♪ And the next thing it's crack in the pouring rain now ♪ ♪ Hard time in the Pines ♪ ♪ The rooster crow says you got to go ♪ ♪ Instead you're handcuffed by the po ♪ ♪ Hard times in the Pines ♪ ♪ And the people, they come and they go ♪ ♪ So outta luck but so hard to know ♪ ♪ Who's your friend and who's your foe ♪ ♪ 'Cause it's hard times in the Pines ♪ [upbeat music continues] [upbeat music continues] Max, everybody.

[audience applauding] ♪ I've got friends, they've paid my debt ♪ ♪ They're trying to find something to fix their head ♪ ♪ When it's hard time in the Pines ♪ ♪ Some of us sleep and some of us dream ♪ ♪ Some of us cheat and steal to earn the cream ♪ ♪ Hard time in the Pines ♪ ♪ Oh, but I don't mind living in those Pines ♪ ♪ When it's finally sunny summertime ♪ ♪ And I'm swimming in a blue hole in the Pines ♪ ♪ The rooster crow says you got to go ♪ ♪ Instead you're handcuffed by the po ♪ ♪ Hard time in the Pines ♪ ♪ And the people, they come and they go ♪ ♪ So outta luck but so hard to know ♪ ♪ Who's your friend and who's your foe ♪ ♪ Hard times in the Pines ♪ One more time!

Come on!

[upbeat music continues] [upbeat music continues] Hey!

♪ The rooster crow says you got to go ♪ ♪ Instead you're handcuffed by the po ♪ ♪ It's a hard time in the Pines ♪ ♪ But the people, they come and they go ♪ ♪ So outta luck but so hard to know, mama ♪ ♪ Who's your friend and who's your foe ♪ ♪ But it's hard times in the Pines, yes ♪ ♪ Hard times in the Pines ♪ ♪ My baby, yeah ♪ ♪ Hard times ♪ ♪ In the Pines ♪ [audience cheering] Thanks.

We're Jackson Pines.

We love you, Albert Music Hall.

Stick around.

There's a lotta great music coming up.

- [Host] Jackson Pines!

Yes!

[upbeat music] [upbeat music continues] ♪ We are ♪ ♪ Exactly what you see ♪ ♪ Bruised and scraped-off knees ♪ ♪ Still we find our way ♪ ♪ Some come ♪ ♪ As quickly as they go ♪ ♪ Some choose their own roads ♪ ♪ But still they find their way ♪ [person yelling]