Tallying up the past two years, Jackie Venson breaks down her performances: outdoor shows (60%), reduced-capacity inside sets (30%), cancellations (10%). Four consecutive Saturdays at historic BBQ heaven Lamberts conform to health protocols.
“The last two years, how hard has it been? So the first year, I didn’t play at all. The second year things kinda fell into place. And then now, we’re in this defiant year, where people are so tired.
“I get it, but I’m sorry, the pandemic isn’t over because you’re over it.”
Plague couldn’t have helped September’s Southland roots nugget Love Transcends.
“I spent the last two years atomic bombing my following into exponential growth, so this album was, like, 200% better than any release I ever had,” reveals the Prince-like ATX native, also a singing-shredding, multi-instrumentalist dynamo. “It’s so ironic: ‘So Jackie, you are going to make it, but it’s going to take a pandemic.’”
Get there early for the R&B fourpiece warming up on opening night, Venson’s 32nd birthday.
“My dad’s going to open,” she affirms.
Andrew Venson taught her everything the headliner’s Broadway-loving physician mother didn’t.
“He does a really good version of Keb’ Mo’s ‘Dangerous Mood,’ a blues song about being hot for a woman,” she laughs. “He really plays it up, but he’s also a crooner. Women in the audience, they’re all like, ‘Wow!’ He’s irresistible. He’s got 10 kids for a reason.”
—73703— Raoul Hernandez
