Key West Florida Weekly

MUSIC SCENE

From ugly duckling to ferocious Jack Wolf



 

 

“I was born a poor black child,” Jack Wolf began his interview playfully. Whereas most people try to sugarcoat a life of hardship, Jack embraces his matter of-factly. Parental failures, bouncing around the country with different relatives, drugs, the Navy, sleeping in cars and closets, and playing music on the street have been instrumental in making Jack the man and musician you see today. As I recount his early life, try your best to keep up.

He was born John Gurney Huecker Jr. in Yuma, Ariz., with his twin sister, Jamie. They lived there until they were 2, along with his older sister, Jessie. “We had a turbulent childhood,” he admitted. “We went to live with my dad’s parents in Simi Valley, Calif., for a couple of years. When we turned 7, we went to Rutledge, Tenn., to live with our mom and her third husband, Curtis. It was a three-bedroom townhouse/shack-looking thing. Wood stoves heated the house. There was a hundred acres of woods. We’d hunt for turtles and fireflies. It was tight.”

They stayed there for two years before packing up and heading to Waco, Texas, where Jack soon found himself with another little baby sister, Julia. “Julia’s dad liked to play guitar, and both my parents liked to sing,” he said. “I had music class in the third grade. I remember learning to play one of those little plastic recorders. That started me with the basics.”

They spent summers in California with their dad and his in-laws. “They had a piano and a book of how to teach yourself piano.” He was 11 when he learned “Ode to Joy.”

They moved to Loudon, Tenn., when he was in the fourth grade, where he remained until he graduated high school.

Then, again, at 17, he moved back to Anaheim to live with his dad for eight months before starting school at Fullerton College to major in Japanese and minor in piano.

“Basically, from the ages of 11 to 18, I raised myself and my siblings.”

So, Jack joined the Navy. “I had a perfect score on my ASFAB.” After an incident where he and some others were accused of hazing another recruit, he was prematurely let go. “It was for calling him a name, which I absolutely did not do. The Navy had a zero tolerance for that. I fought for over a year to get reinstated, but it didn’t happen.” That led to a lot of jumping around from place to place, thing to thing for the next two years. Back to California, San Diego, a train to Fullerton, sleeping in the park, back to working at Starbucks, working for Papa John’s, doing construction, doing some modeling for an art school. The whole time he was unapologetically living out of his car.

“When I was 19 I fell in love with our neighbor, but she friend-zoned me. One time she said, ‘I wish someone would learn some Radiohead. I bought a $50 guitar and learned ‘Creep,’ ‘Karma Police’ and ‘Exit Music’ (for a film), and sang her my stupid, shitty versions. And I still didn’t get the girl.”

Almost 20, he told Starbucks he’d be back in a week, and he drove back to Tennessee.

“I grew up an ugly duckling. I was a late bloomer and bullied a lot. I didn’t get my first girlfriend until I was 17, at the Japanese high school.”

Jack began picking up shifts at a Tennessee Starbucks again. He had been taking karate lessons since he was 11, and his karate instructor, who also sold cars, convinced him that they should move in together. Before long, Jack was selling cars as well at dealer’s in Knoxville. “You had to become a slime ball, materialistic, with no moral compass. At 21, because of the car business, I had a breakdown. I dyed my hair blonde, then I dyed it blue, then I shaved my head, looking for my identity.”

It was then that John Gurney Huecker Jr. found that identity when he changed his name to Jack Wolf, a name that could have come straight out of a romance novel. “I’d already been asking everyone to call me Jack for a few years.”

Living out of a truck parked in the Market Square garage in Knoxville, Jack began playing the streets. “I kept my clothes in a big green Tupperware tub. I had girlfriends so that I had a place to shower.” It was then that he began experimenting with psychedelics, molly, raves, festivals, couches. And then, an epiphany. “When I tripped the first time on mushrooms, I realized then that I needed to be a musician. I had to quit wasting my life. I started playing the street, learning songs. I keep a three-ring binder and now have hundreds of songs. I’d spend the afternoons committing them to mind, and then the nights I’d try to play them. At coffee shops, parties, just traveling around in the truck I wasn’t paying for.

“I told a friend of mine, Rob Cook (the washboard tie guy if you’re a local), that I wanted to go work on a cruise ship. He said, ‘No, let’s do a busking tour across the United States in my van.’ On Groundhog Day, 2013, we went on the road. Someone in Knoxville told us about Key West during the winter. We were heading down the coast and, on Super Bowl Sunday in Asheville, we were playing outside in the snow so Key West was sounding pretty good. We played Savannah, Ocala for 10 days at a pizza place where we actually made money, Tampa and then arrived in Key West at 4 a.m. We stayed in a nursing home parking for a few days. Then Fred Tillman (ex-husband of actress Kelly McGillis) allowed us to stay in our van in a much better spot right on a property he owned behind Smokin’ Tuna Saloon for three weeks until we could get our feet on the ground. Still had to shower at the MLK pool, though.”

They began playing the streets of Key West (sometimes with Tillman and McGillis’s daughter Kelsey, also a street musician). He rented out a 4-foot-by-5- foot closet for $100 a week for a while, then moved in with local musician Rock Solomon on Stock Island when things got a little bit better.

“My first real gig was at the Little Room Jazz Club, the first of three duo gigs. That’s where I met Kmac (who now plays locally under the name Roenin). Then at 2 Cents, then the grand opening of the World of Beer on St. Paddy’s Day. I got picked up at Willie T’s, and John Taglieri got me on at Irish Kevin’s. I always wanted to get gigs along with Rob since we came here together. He finally moved on to play with the Love Lane Gang. It’s funny, we had at least 30 shows together but we never really ever had a conversation.”

Jack has been playing seven days a week for the past two years. “I started making lots of money. So, I’m buying toys. Motorcycles, video games, fancy dinners, flying girls to come out and see me. I love playing video games and reading sci-fi novels. I have an old Nintendo system. I’ve got everything. The new Zelda game is my whole life.” He also enjoys riding bikes cross-country, once pedaling 1,300 miles from Charleston to New Orleans.

He is influenced by the Doors, Beatles, Sublime, Radiohead, the Stones and his number one favorite, Nirvana. He has decided to start taking one day off a week, Sundays, but on Tuesdays and Thursdays he plays Willie T’s on Duval from 9:30 p.m. till 1 a.m, on Wednesdays he plays Capt. Tony’s from 8:30 p.m. till 12:30 a.m., and on Fridays and Saturdays he plays with his MFN Band, also at Capt. Tony’s, from 9 p.m. till 1 a.m. “It’s the MFN Band because I’m Jack ‘MFN’ Wolf.”

Now, Jack lives in an upstairs apartment a block or two from every gig, a place he shared with local musician Chris Toler for two years. “I’m finally ready to just have my own space,” he said. When asked what he enjoys most about living and working in Key West, Jack said, “Where do I start? The weather, in Tennessee it’s super rainy. I loved the beaches of California. I guess what I enjoy most is my commute to work. All my musician friends from up north come down and see my set up and say it’s just crazy. And then they move here.”

You can find Jack’s music on Spotify, including his first self-titled album (he’s working on his second) and other online music sources. Just Google Jack Wolf Music. ¦


 

 

3 responses to “MUSIC SCENE”

  1. Kendra Rice says:

    As someone who has known jack since he’s been John I can attest this is article is very truthful. Jack has been through a lot in his life and has overcome the obsticals that life has thrown him. I am so proud to say I know and love jack for the person he has become. I wish i were as strong and driven as him. I am so proud of the person he has become and all he has overcome. Love you jack!

  2. Sam says:

    I’m actually Jack’s niece and I’m very proud of him and wish I can see him again soon . And if Jack is reading this I hope I see you at my sister’s wedding

  3. Patti Fox says:

    Wow😌God Bless you Jack😇😎love reading about you and Kari😘🥰❤️🎈Both of you are truly talented ⭐️⭐️😇🙏 we sent you a Christmas Card today☺️😁Blessings Always Garry, mama, Mr Spock 😎😽🐻❤️

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