Jake Clemons Steps Off E Street To Deliver Solo Debut – Fear & Love released 1-13-17

Jake Clemons has performed more than admirably since stepping into the oversized shoes of his Uncle Clarence in 2012 as sax player in Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band.  The Boss’s crew draws heavily on the personality of its members and their fulfillment of roles within the group. Camaraderie and history are crucial intangibles in the equation on stage and, with half a decade now in the rearview mirror, clearly Jake has integrated himself in a wildly successful way.  No doubt one reason for that success is the relationship, which he speaks about in the bonus video below, that he had with Clarence and his knowledge that they were cut from the same cloth.  The man‘s certainty of that fact allowed him to have all the confidence in the world that being himself was right for the gig.

A big part of being Jake is writing.  He told me, at the NY1 studios in Chelsea last week, that writing is how he deals with life.  Since 2010, he’s been leading a band of international characters: Canadian Mark Rashotte on guitar,  L.A. based stickman Matt Musty on drums, Brett Mayer who unlike Jake is from the Jersey Shore on keys, and a son of Ireland Lorcán Oâ€Dwyer on bass.  Clemons – who also is handy with drums, bass, clarinet, and piano – generally concentrates on playing guitar as well as sax and singing his songs in this context.  He is from Virginia and has also logged some time living in Brooklyn and in Harlem although the last couple of years he’s just lived on the road.  Despite the touring to many corners of the world that Clemons has done as an E Streeter, he managed an EP called Everlasting Light a couple of years ago.  Fear & Love has essentially been in the can for a year but the timing, with The River Tour in full swing, was less than ideal so a release was back-burnered.  This gave Clemons the opportunity to ponder details, not the least of which was sequencing, before unleashing it on Friday.