Jeff Buckley's mother, Mary Guibert, carries a shillelagh everywhere she goes. The quaint twisted knobbly stick can be found in the back seat of the car she drives around LA. It's her weapon of choice. "Jeff brought it back for me after the Trinity Ball in 1992," she remembers. "I treasure it. Most people in LA carry a gun around with them," she laughs, "but I've got my shillelagh! I just shake it at anyone who bothers me!"
Today, May 29th 2007 marks the ten year anniversary since Jeff's tragic death following an ill-fated swim in the Mississippi River. In hindsight it's the timing of Jeff Buckley's death which seems particularly cruel. He was just 30-years-old. Grisly parallels with the death of his father abounded. Tim Buckley, the cult songwriter, was also taken years before his time. An accidental heroin overdose brought him to his grave at just 28-year's-old. Jeff had met him only once.
While Tim managed to release nine albums in his sort career, the extravagantly gifted Jeff had only just begun to record the follow up to Grace, his debut and only completed record.
Released in August 1994, Grace remains a certified modern classic. Full of hope, longing and incomplete beauty, it is a record which has left an indelible print on modern music. Intrinsically beautiful, its influence remains incalculable. Without it we would arguably have never heard of artists such as Anthony and The Johnson's, Damien Rice or Coldplay.
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