To hear all the Top Ten Songs scroll down past the Top Three Winners
Scott Jackson from Summerfield, FL works as a dentist by day and a musician by night and any other free time he has. Jackson is the 2021 winner of the Will McLean Best New Florida Song Contest with the song, “Florida Highway.”
“Florida Highway came to me as I was thinking about going home and where I grew up,” says Jackson. “The feelings of a place familiar, but also realizing that the friends and family associated with a certain place, is what really makes it home.” He placed fourth in the contest in 2020 and performed the song on the Cypress Stage during a “Songwriters In The Round” set.
Jackson also won second place in this year’s contest with his song, “Freedom Had to Wait,” a civil war tune about the bloody “Battle of Olustee.”
“The battle took place 100 years before I was born, yet there are similarities that take place today,” says Jackson. “The way this year has been going, not only with division, but with social unrest, made me think that even though we have come a long way, we still have a ways to go.”
Jackson was born in Hialeah, Florida. He says music was an instant part of his life, “Our father was a guitar player, as well as a banjo player. My dad taught me how to play the banjo when I was five years old and I played a lot of bluegrass music growing up. As I got older, my sister turned me on to acoustic folk music, which included James Taylor, Jim Croce, and Paul Simon.”
He says he started playing the guitar as a teenager and really grew attached to the folk music scene. He only started writing within the last 10 years or so, and then, only a handful of tunes. He is looking forward to playing at festivals either solo, or with his music buddy and orthodontist, Andy Cohen, in the group Wound Tight.
Third Place Finisher- The Duo “Bear and Robert“
The third place finisher in the 2021 Will McLean Best New Florida Song Contest is the duo, “Bear and Robert” with the song, “7-Mile.” Cindy says, “7 Mile” was written as a song of healing for the son and family of an old friend, who left us too soon this year,
“It was inspired by the story of his extraordinary life as an avid fisherman, a Veteran, and to how much he loved his son, his family, and returning to his Florida home. His dream of teaching his boy how to fish began to come true when he was still in diapers, and the first time he took him fishing in the Florida Keys shortly after that was one of the proudest days of his life. They shared a lifetime of adventures while fishing all over Florida, but their trips to the Keys were always extra special.”
She adds the song also explores the parallels of how fishing is a lot like life,
“No matter the weather, if you are following your passion with someone you love, you will always remember those times as the best days of your life.
Together the acoustic sound of “Bear and Robert” has been described as a deep well of Folk, Blues and Americana with a high-energy je ne sais quoi! They have played Folk, Blues, and Acoustic music festivals, house concerts, charity fundraisers, and venues all over Florida, the Mississippi Delta, at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee, and internationally in Canada. Franc has also toured solo and with his previous bands from the Southeastern U.S. up through Canada. They also both love performing with their electric blues-rock band, the “Black Water Swamp Band.”
The singer-songwriter duo also placed 9th in the contest with the song, “Pollen Rag,” a song Cindy describes as a funny take on pollen in Florida which has an apocalyptic effect on our olfactory senses! She says The song was born on the ukulele, and inspired by the extremely heavy pollen season in Florida this year, and written after camping for 5 days at a music festival in the spring.
“The pine pollen was so thick on our blue van that it literally turned green! When we tried to rinse it off before we left, there were these huge, endless clumps of yellow pollen and brown catkins that kept sloughing off to the ground, and all we could think of was how many pounds of pollen we had shaken off that weekend every time we sneezed!”
Bear and Robert released their first acoustic CD, “Hearts in Blues” in 2019, and Franc has recorded and released six solo/band CD’s with the Back Alley Blues Band, and the Box Car Tourists. A CD of Cindy Bear’s original folk songs is currently in motion!
Cindy and Franc are active volunteers and supporters of Florida folk music by bringing artists and opportunities together across the state as active board members of the North Florida Folk Network (NFFN). Cindy is also a board member for the Florida Music Food Initiative (FMFI), which helps feed the hungry and homeless in Florida. She says, “Be the change, one song at a time.”
The “Top Three” contestants in the Will McLean Best New Florida Song Contest usually perform at the annual Festival in March. The pandemic caused the cancellation for 2021. Scott Jackson and “Bear and Robert” will perform at the next Will McLean Festival scheduled for March of 2022.
Here is the list of the Top Ten Songs for 2020.
Scroll down to hear the audio of all the Top Ten Songs.
