Jackson Browne insists NZ on itinerary

There's no way American singer/songwriter Jackson Browne wasn't coming to New Zealand on his latest tour, he tells MIKE HOULAHAN.

When it comes to economics, US singer/songwriter Jackson Browne is an altruist.

An infrequent but enthusiastic visitor to New Zealand, he says he has seen his tour schedules bypass these shores too often in recent years. This year, he put his foot down and insisted Auckland was on the schedule.

"I've only been twice, and it's absurd that I haven't been each time I've been to Australia. I know it's economically hard, but I stood my ground with the planners this time and said 'No, we can't not go."'

Besides, the wife of Browne's keyboard player Jeff Young is a New Zealander, so there were family visits to be fitted into the schedule.

"I played at the concert for the Rainbow Warrior, oh, over 10 years ago, with Tim and Neil Finn and Split Enz and it was an amazing visit," Browne says.

"It was the first time I had ever seen Neil Finn, he's just an amazing musician."

It's quite likely Browne -- a hugely influential songwriter as well as performer -- would have been an influence on some of Finn's more acoustic, folk-tinged tunes. Ryan Adams, Steve Miller and Bruce Hornsby, among others, have been picked as owing Browne a debt of gratitude.

"I never get it myself, I never hear myself in other people's music," Browne says.

"It might just be I like things that sound a certain way and I assume it's us gravitating to the same emotional timbre or same musical values."

Clyde Jackson Browne -- the son of a US Army newspaperman -- was born in Heidelberg, Germany, but his family moved to Los Angeles when he was three. As a teenager he played with an early line-up of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, before moving to New York in 1967 where he played with the somewhat artier Tim Buckley and Nico.

It was as a songwriter that Browne first made his name, penning tunes for the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Linda Rondstadt and The Eagles -- whose first chart hit Take It Easy he co-wrote with Glenn Frey.

Striking out alone in 1972, he helped put David Geffen's fledgling Asylum Records label on firm footing with his hit debut self-titled album. A stellar career ensued, with songs like The Pretender and Stay keeping him a fixture on radio in the 70s.

The 80s looked like being more of the same, beginning with a US No 1 album Hold Out and top 10 single Somebody's Baby, but Browne has slipped to what he calls a comfortable niche.

Along with fame, Browne has experienced notoriety. He's hit headlines for his outspoken political activism -- Greenpeace, the peace movement and various anti-nuclear groups are among the groups he has backed -- and also had his personal life plastered over the tabloids.

Most recently his former relationship with actress Daryl Hannah has been back in the spotlight after an American made-for-TV movie about the life of John F Kennedy screened. Browne won't say much about it, other than his lawyers are talking to the film company lawyers, and he hopes the film won't continue to screen in the same way as it was first screened.

"I didn't go after music to become a big star, and the more success I got the more of a surprise it was," Browne says.

"By the time I was making a record I mistrusted fame, I believed it would interrupt my ability to observe, that my writing might not be affected positively. I thought it was dangerous and had to be kept at a distance."

With 30 years-plus worth of material to choose from, selecting a set list can be a problem sometimes, Browne admits. That's where you -- the locals -- come in handy.

"I play from all the different periods of my writing, and I'm fortunate that I'm with a band which has made playing for me a priority among all the other projects they do, so we can resurrect a song pretty easily, even if it's something we haven't done for ages," he says.

"It's hard to guess what an audience has come to hear. It helps to run into people in the street or wherever and talk to them, because you don't live in the places your music goes.

"I talked to a waitress in the hotel where I was staying yesterday and she talked about a couple of songs I would have thought was obscure, so you can never tell. You've got to keep in touch with your real audience, not your imagined audience."

* Jackson Browne plays in Auckland tomorrow.