Jackson Browne Takes Steady, Solemn ‘Long Way Around’ on ‘Colbert’

Jackson Browne took the stage at The Late Show with Stephen Colbert solo Monday for a performance of “The Long Way Around” from his 2014 LP Standing in the Breach.

The shuffling, bluesy cut mulls gun violence, inequality, the never-ending cycle of tragedy and the slow process of desensitization that it brings. Browne’s performance, though steady and stoic, was fraught with emotion as he delivered the track’s blunt, solemn lyrics ”” “The covenant unravels, and the news just rolls along / I could feel my memory letting go some two or three disasters ago” ”” while his hand tumbled over his guitar strings.

Browne will wrap up his latest stint on the road in support of Standing in the Breach on January 29th at a sold out show in Virginia Beach (he’s also scheduled to play Joan Baez’s tour kickoff and 75th birthday concert at New York City’s Beacon Theater on the 27th). Browne will return to the road in March, with two New York concerts scheduled before he treks through Australia and New Zealand. He’ll return stateside for another string of dates in late April.