
Jeff Buckley wrote transcendental rock music. Not many people thought that such a thing could still exist in the 1990s, what with all the music videos and magazine covers shining their blinding light on artists and their work. But like Van Morrisson or Bob Dylan before him, Jeff Buckley was a man of mystery just as much as he was a singer-songwriter.
“Grace” said as much about him as he would have liked to be known. It’s his only finished album. Today, I am going to look at the legacy of Jeff Buckley’s “Grace” and see how well it stacks against the other great indie and alternative rock releases of the 1990s.

The Road to Writing “Grace”
Jeff Buckley was a musical virtuoso. In an era where the punk ethos was making a comeback, relying on this kind of out-of-this-world skill level wasn’t always the smart move. But Buckley didn’t hide anything. Instead, he celebrated, even relished the opportunity of hitting the highest notes in head voice or, more rarely, playing complex arrangements on his Telecaster guitar.
Buckley wanted his audience to love or hate him from the first few seconds they heard him. The ones who hated him would no longer be a concern. The ones who decided they loved what he did now needed to take the journey with him.
It worked. Jeff Buckley’s story is nearly as famous as his music. That would please the singer. Since the very beginning, he has had his legacy on his mind. How could he not?

The Buckley Musical Legacy
Jeff was the biological son of Tim Buckley, after all, a hero of 60s folk and psychedelia. Although Jeff had been raised by his mother and foster father, he had decided he would not try to escape the shadow of his father, the man who had written “Song to the Siren.” Jeff wrestled, instead, with the complex feelings he had for his absentee dad.
Collaborators of Tim Buckley first heard Jeff sing in a tribute concert. He sang two songs, “Once I Was” and “I Never Asked to Be Your Mountain,” and Jeff’s tender, controlled vocals made an impression on everyone there.
It wasn’t just raw talent that had got Buckley to this point. He’d studied music seriously, jazz and funk in particular. His training in Los Angeles had turned him into something of a guitar virtuoso.
He’d also tried to start a band called Gods & Monsters with guitarist Gary Lucas. And on long evenings in front of a few dozen attendees, Jeff Buckley would take his borrowed Fender Telecaster down to Sin-e and play songs by Van Morrison, Elton John or Bob Dylan to the people inside the coffee house.
By 1994, he had taken up the advice of friends and went on to write his own songs. There was suddenly a newfound state of purpose. Columbia Records, a home for other expressive songwriters had signed him, and Jeff Buckley was determined to make his mark immediately.

Just How Good is “Grace”?
There are many people who love “Grace” and take about it with the reverence that religious people reserve for sainthood. Artists as diverse as Jimmy Page or David Bowie have called it one of their favourite albums. Bands like Radiohead and Coldplay built some of their songs off of it.
The greatness of “Grace” doesn’t quite lie in what Buckley sings or says but rather in what he leaves out. The absence of information and the use of silence makes the wailing vocals on songs like “Mojo Pin” or “Lilac Wine” all the more powerful.
Back in the 1990s indie/alternative-rock boom, there were plenty of artists working with raw emotion, with atypical song structures and even many who tried their best to showcase their powerful vocals.
Jeff Buckley had a unique knack for blending theatrics and overflowing emotion with impressive musical elements. Take the album’s most famous cut, a cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” In the hands of the thousands who covered Jeff Buckley’s cover, the song becomes a typical overreaching balland. Buckley, on the other hand, performs it like an actor on a theatre stage reciting a monologue while giving his last breath.
Flawless Technical Ability
Yes, the anguished screams on the track “Grace,” the centrepiece of the album, are technically impressive. While many tried to imitate them, it is what Buckley deals with on the inside while singing that makes it impressive.
What were Jeff Buckley’s influences? Not soul singers, necessarily, but singers with plenty of soul. Buckley described Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan as “his Elvis.” Buckley loved the transcendental beauty of Van Morrison and Joni Mitchell’s music. Jeff also loved the deep cuts from Bob Dylan. And, while less inclined to use it, Buckley loved hard-rock a la Led Zeppelin or punk/hardcore like Bad Brains.
The songs flow effortlessly, and Buckley weaves his magic throughout. From “Mojo Pin” to “Dream Brother,” Buckley creates a dreamlike atmosphere punctuated by sighs and cries.
The album shares some similarities to the debut of another Columbia artist signed in the 1990s, Chris Whitley, and the album “Living with the Law.” While both singers possess a brittle beauty to their voices, and both sets of songs are remarkable, it is clear that Buckley is strategically introducing pop elements to which audiences could respond.
Unfinished Follow-Up and Legacy of “Grace”
“Grace” didn’t quite make Jeff Buckley a household name. But it created enough devoted fans to make him the subject of plenty of attention. Fame did not exactly suit the musician.
In the years that followed, he worked on a follow-up album, looking to create a sound that would distance him from the gentle tones of “Grace.” Working first with Television’s Tom Verlaine and then on his own in New Orleans, Buckley was preparing to finish the album “My Sweetheart, The Drunk” in 1997.
Tragically, an accident led to Jeff Buckley’s drowning at the age of 30 in New Orleans in 1997.
The intended album was released in the form of demos recorded by Buckley. Many other releases followed, many of them focusing on his live renditions of covers by the likes of The Smiths or Bob Dylan.
The reputation of “Grace” grew and continues to grow with each passing year. Its gentle beauty and the tragedy associated with its singer help create a dark aura around it.
Meanwhile, Jeff Buckley’s singing style has been studied and imitated endlessly but never exactly captured. In fact, all of the imitators prove what we should have already known – it was never about the singing but about the otherworldliness of Jeff Buckley as an artist, which made his music great.