Tim Buckley: Jeff Buckley

Creative Legends of the DMV

Tim Buckley (1947-1975) was a folk singer and avant-garde musician. Born in Washington, D.C. and then uprooted to New York and then finally southern California where by the time he was a teenager, he was already involved in the music scene there creating bands and meeting people that would give him career opportunities. Opportunities he used to explore his multi octave voice against acoustic backgrounds that were lush, playful but not at all commercially accessible. He eventually developed his own cult following and by now, some of his songs have been covered by many musicians. A bit all over the place musically and never really getting a foothold within the music industry, he kept releasing material but his own personal journey and battle with drugs overtook everything when he died at the age of 27 from an overdose of heroin.
One legendary thing that Tim Buckley did was meet Mary Guibert. Together, they created the body to host one of the most soulful voices of the 20th century. Jeff Buckley (1966-1997) also had a multi octave range vocally but was imbued with a sharper focus when it came to his songs and his music. Raised Scott Moorhead in Southern California, he changed it back to his natural given name after his father died. In 1974, Tim Buckley had a gig that Mary spotted and decided to take Jeff. They sat right in front. Enamored, Jeff saw his future and heard it his dad's voice. This was only their first meeting since Tim disconnected from Mary when he discovered she was pregnant in 1966. Jeff and Tim would get to spend some quality time shortly afterward that could have proved to be a momentous turnaround of connection for the both of them, but it was not to be. Tim Buckley was dead shortly afterward. The time was enough to set Jeff off on his musical journey. He was obviously inspired to follow in his father's footsteps musically but within a much deeper and ethereal sonic soundscape. His debut album "Grace" has been called by many reputable critics and aficionados as one of the best debuts of all time and one of the songs on the album, his cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", has been called one of the best covers of all time. Unlike his father, he was limited to a small output of studio material though a lot of live recordings and old demos exist and are accessible on all music apps. This is all we have from him due to his own tragic and premature death at the age of 30. At the end of May in 1997, he drowned in the Mississippi River getting caught in a boat's wake after wandering in spontaneously fully clothed.
Evan draws some connections between father and son including their rather scant DMV affiliations. They are enough to make them Episode 9 of Creative Legends of the DMV.