Judge Jackson Todd McTavish - Vocals Lee Jackson - Guitar Brian James - Bass, B.Vocals J.J. Garcia - Drums “I’ve been haulin’ as/I’ve been rockin’/Until the very end/I’m gonna keep, keep on truckin’/Down the line/ Keep on truckin’ til I find” “Keep on Truckin’” JUDGE JACKSON lives and breathes the spirit of rock ‘n’ roll. No one embodies that drive, determination and lifestyle better than this quartet of true believers whose sixth album, 6, boasts a cover depicting a route on a freeway sign that perfectly captures the band’s nomadic 100-plus gigs a year commitment. For more than a decade, through five albums, 1,200 performances (celebrating their milestone 1,000th, appropriately enough, at the 27th Laughlin River Run two years ago), and shows with Tesla, John Waite, Steel Panther, S.U.N., Gov’t Mule, Doobie Bros., Cheap Trick, Buckcherry, Army of Anyone, UFO and Joe Bonamassa, among others, this hard-driving quartet’s music can be heard on a variety of sporting events, including the Super Bowl, NHL and NBA playoffs, as well as NASCAR. Vocalist/lyricist McTavish, who once played in a band that featured Shania Twain as a back-up vocalist, joined up with guitarist/songwriter Jackson in L.A. to tirelessly play the town’s club circuit, where they steadily built a devoted local following. By 1998, the band released its debut album, followed shortly thereafter by a second CD, 8068. Drummer Garcia joined the group shortly after the release of JUDGE JACKSON’s third CD, One Diamond, which marked the band’s multimedia breakthrough, with “Amazing” receiving airplay on more than 30 stations across the U.S., while “Times Been Changing” was featured on NBC’s popular comedy My Name Is Earl. Still another track, “King,” was the theme to the Speed Channel NASCAR program, Victory Lane, viewed by more than a million fans every Sunday. From the band’s self-titled fourth album, released in March, 2007, “Lift the Bottle” and “Rock N’ Roll” have been featured on several Fox Sports Network promos and programs. In addition, the group wrote and recorded a brand-new song, “Get Busy,” for Fox Sports’ college football telecasts. That album was named “Best CD of the Year” in the 5th Annual All Access Magazine Awards. The group added bassist Brian James, formerly of The Rocking Scoundrels and Stone, to replace long time member Ryan Rogers in time for their 2010 album, Drive, whose title track was featured on MTV’s popular Buckwild series. Two years ago, Todd and Lee collaborated with Oscar winner Billy Bob Thornton, taking a break from his own band The Boxmasters, to record the holiday single, “Christmas Tree,” with Grammy-winning producer/engineer Jim Mitchell (Guns N’ Roses, Black Crowes) at Thornton’s Beverly Hills home studio, dubbed “The Cave,” originally designed and built by Mitchell for former homeowner Slash. McTavish has also written with and for several other artists, including Motley Crue’s Mick Mars. Self-produced by the band, with engineer/mixer Billy Baker, 6 is the band’s first album since 2010’s Drive and continues to wear JUDGE JACKSON’s passion for music and the camaraderie of rock on its sleeve. Guitarist Lee Jackson’s slashing power chords, J.J. Garcia’s tub-thumping drums and Brian James’ bass rumble enlivens the Guns N’ Roses salacious swagger of “Done,” “#13” and the edgy “Suck It Up,” while “Dynamite” lives up to its name. The anthemic “Born Free” celebrates “the power of dreaming/the right to succeed” and the propulsive live crowd-pleaser “Rise” takes care of business Bachman-Turner Overdrive style with a plea bound to get every concert-goer to their feet. With 6, whose cover was designed in an online contest from a submission by winner Laurel Liggera, JUDGE JACKSON have put those 10,000 hours to good use. An eclectic collection that doesn’t just show off their patented hard rock rave-ups on songs like “Top of the World,” which describes the feeling of eutopia and absolute freedom (“I’m on top of the world/What a view I can see/Like a kid in a candy store/And it’s all free”) and “Keep on Truckin’,” with its components of : “All Along the Watchtower” in a tribute to a life lived to and for the pride of working hard. The band’s eclecticism continues with the ZZ Top flavor of “My Word” and the funky Chicago R&B of “January Blues.” The country-flavored “Hold You Tight” and “Cool,” with the emotional acoustic folk of “Laid to Rest,” and the yearning narrative of “California,” lyricist Todd McTavish’s ode to his adopted home having arrived from Canada in 1995 to form the roots of JUDGE JACKSON. On their newest album, 6, JUDGE JACKSON puts the pedal to the floor with soaring vocals, churning guitars, and a rhythm section that punches you in the gut. A worthy successor to their own stated influences: Lynyrd Skynyrd, Led Zeppelin, Black Crowes, Guns N’ Roses, Tesla, Iron Maiden, Bon Jovi, Allman Brothers and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Sure, they rock, but McTavish and Jackson create indelible melodies, sing-along lyrics and choruses to literally die for. “Live for nothin’/Or die for somethin’,” sings Todd on the soaring R. Crumb/Mr. Natural tribute, “Keep on Truckin’,” and that’s exactly what they continue to do on their latest release, available at iTunes and CD Baby.com “It ain’t easy/Working for a standing ovation/You’ve got to rise, rise to the occasion/And when you need me/I’ll be turning myself and the stage on,” sings McTavish on the new album’s “Rise.” You couldn’t come up with a better way to describe JUDGE JACKSON’s take-no-prisoners musical approach. Rock ‘n’ roll the way it’s always meant to be.