Stephen Jacques’ ability to create such rich and sonically eloquent music out of so few musical threads reminds us all that it is not merely the playing of instruments that makes you a singer-songwriter but the crafting and composition of ideas. Anyone, well, almost anyone, can get a tune out of a guitar and most of us can carry a tune, but it is the deft weaving and layering of instruments and voices make a song, and “Native American Sweetness,” despite its spaciousness, or more likely because of it, is a great song.
Taken from his latest album, Pioneers and Fragrant Flowers, a suite of songs exploring the opening up of the American West, “Native American Sweetness” is a sonic letter of apology to the native tribes who were cheated, coerced, and violently forced off their lands in the name of Manifest Destiny.
Not only is the song understated, with lush guitars, cascading pianos, a simple beat, and twin harmonies doing only what they need to serve the song, but the video also uses space to make its point; Stephen simply playing the song framed by the natural beauty of the land and the broadness of the skies.
At a time when empathy and understanding of our fellow man seems to be at a low ebb, it is worth remembering what we have been capable of in the past, one hundred, two hundred, three hundred years ago. As they say, those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Do we ever seem to learn?
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