Jon Jackson’s music career, like so many others, started with a broken heart. But add a
Waffle House to the equation and you’ve got a story befitting a guy who goes by “Trailer Park.”
“To get through college, I stayed at the Waffle House. I would get coffee and put
on my headphones and study,” he said, “and there was this regular that came in, and of course I fell in love with her
and she rejected me.”
So, at 21, he picked up a guitar and started writing songs, teaching himself to
play with the familiar melodies and tempos of the Beatles.
Now, just five years later, Jackson, a nurse in the pediatric intensive care
unit, has recorded an album, “Green Apples,” and plays gigs all over the Southeast.
And there’s more to Jon Jackson than just music. He’s a nurse and a painter, and he’s even wanted to be your congressman—but more on that later.
Jackson says his music is “a niche thing, not everybody likes it,” but it would be impossible to squeeze it into a genre. There are elements of
classic country, rock, ragtime, folk and bluegrass, but the common thread is
Jackson’s guitar, soulful voice and insightful lyrics.
The title track “Green Apples” is a humorous take on the Biblical story of Adam and Eve (“You can’t see it ’til you taste the truth,”) “The Sycamore Tree” is a nature ballad (“Stars are out, there ain’t a cloud in sight. It’s a Carolina moon on a Tennessee night,”) and “Comin’ Home” is about murder and jailbreak (“I walked into the kitchen, picked up a knife, and I asked her if her [nagging]
was worth her life.”)
