Jackson Browne

Looking for three signs you’ve been listening to classic-rock radio way too long? One, you don’t mind hearing the same three Zeppelin tunes over and over. Two, the opening sax line to Bob Seger’s “Turn the Page” has you reaching for the volume dial. And three, Jackson Browne‘s ode to life on the road, “The Load Out/Stay,” always has you screaming in your best doo-wop falsetto. Though Browne’s multiplatinum 1977 album Running on Empty remains the commercial pinnacle of his career, he remains one of the most prolific singer-songwriters from that era. Browne, an ardent political activist and environmentalist, can’t help but speak his piece, but he does so while forgoing the sort of at-the-pulpit proselytizing that has mired other attempts recently, such as Neil Young’s Greendale.