Jerry Joseph has had a long and interesting career, marred only by a period in the mid-’90s where he fought heroin addiction. Though his drug demons curtailed his live performances during that period, his struggle fueled a period of great songwriting that opened the door to a bright future.

A native of Portland, Oregon, Joseph was brought to the southeast in the early ‘90s to write music with Daniel Hutchins of Bloodkin, who recorded several of their tunes. This led to a friendship with Dave Schools, bassist with Widespread Panic, which led to the band recording Joseph’s classic “Climb To Safety” on the “‘Till The Medicine Takes” album. Widespread Panic felt a close kinship to Joseph’s writing, and has recorded at least one Joseph song on each of their albums since.

In addition, Joseph teamed with Schools in the Stockholm Syndrome, a band that, along with Wally Ingram, Eric McFadden, and Danny Dzuik, toured the U.S. and Europe in support of their album “Holy Happy Hour.” But the Syndrome was just a side project, as Joseph’s band, the Jackmormons, had released successful albums in 2001 (“Conscious Contact,” produced by Schools), and 2003 (“Mouthful of Copper,” a live album recorded by the legendary Betty Cantor-Jackson, of Grateful Dead fame).

Many shows and albums later, the Jackmormons made their annual trek last year to Virginia City, Montana, where they recorded their newest release, “Badlandia,” a searingly powerful live album that captures the essence and excitement of a Jackmormons show in all its splendor. Panic fans will delight in his version of “Second Skin,” which appeared on Panic’s album “Earth to America,” and longtime fans of the Jackmormons will thrill to the version of “Dixie Mattress,” a tune written with Daniel Hutchins of Bloodkin dating back nearly two decades. Jerry Joseph is a musician’s musican, who puts the song ahead of everything else, and “Badlandia” is a rock ‘n’ roll extravaganza that leaves no doubt.

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