A Working Class Musician Through and Through: An Interview With Rochester’s Jackson Cavalier

By Dan Dellechiaie | August 6, 2026

Photo credit: Aaron Long

I don’t know how Jackson Cavalier does it. This Rochester-based anti-fascist powerhouse plays hundreds of gigs a year, dishing out his americana-country-blues music that fills your body with electricity like an auditory lightning bolt. He’s also more punk than a mohawk, a true rabble-rouser. knifetwister records new york sat down with Jackson Cavalier before the release of his new record, The New American Bible.

knifetwister records new york is a proudly anti-fascist magazine so I have to ask you about your latest track “The Patriot.” It begins with the line “The only good fascist is a dead one.” Agreed. The track reminds me a lot of One Battle After Another. What motivated you to write that song?

"The Patriot" was written after an experience I had while posting a video on my socials spreading awareness about an ICE concentration camp that they're constructing in my hometown, Rochester, NY. The video went more viral than I anticipated and the comment section was littered with fascists and bigots doing what they do best: spewing hatred and ignorance. For every one of their comments, there were like ten people that all raked them over the coals. I wanted to write a song about how the tides are turning and normal working class folks are starting to realize that drastic direct action is going to need to be taken before we rid ourselves of the evil of this country.

You are a true one-man band: guitar, harmonica, drum kit that you play with your feet. Hear that Brooklyn bands scouring the boroughs for a drummer? You can do it yourself! What inspired you to adopt your multi-instrument rig?

So way back in the olden times (circa 2013), I discovered the music of Shakey Graves. All my friends and I immediately thought what he was doing was the absolute coolest thing we'd ever seen. What he was doing with his one-man band setup (guitar, suitcase bass drum, tambourine) had such a big sound, and as someone who was trying to play Americana music and struggling to find a reliable drummer I said fuck it and gave it a go for myself. Took me about two months to learn the basics then the rest has evolved with time.

How the hell do you play 100-200 gigs a year?

I'm a working class musician through and through. I'm also a chameleon. Anyone that's full timing it in this industry right now and is able to live off that income knows you have to be multi faceted in the gigs you are doing. I started as a street performer, I would show up at festivals, farmers markets, tourist traps, and just set up and start playing. That got the attention of a lot of local brewery owners who started booking me on the circuit in the Finger Lakes region of NY. There's an economy for independent musicians here because all of the breweries, wineries, restaurants have music and if you don't, you're losing business. I take all types of gigs, I've played weddings and funerals and everything in between. Long story short that's how I perform that many gigs a year.

Photo credit: Aaron Long

On your latest LP, Spinning Gold Out of Twine, you have a great mix of folk, country, blues, and good ole rock ’n’ roll, going from “Let It Kill You Blues” to the country track “One Eyed Buck.” How did that album come together? Was it a departure from your previous no-genre/post-americana album with Jackson Cavalier & The Big Dead Waltz?

I guess SGOOT was an intended departure from my last full band endeavor with TBDW. The songs on my last record were big and had a lot of layers. I was frustrated that those songs could never be replicated live, at least not how they sounded on the recordings anyhow. In between that record and SGOOT, I had a lot of life changes and I also ended up doing a few nationwide tours. The tour I had before writing most of the songs on SGOOT I was listening to a lot of the White Stripes and Delta Blues music and I had this realization that if all of them could make it work and make their music sound big with barely any instrumentation that I could do it as well. The ethos of SGOOT was to make people forget/not able to perceive that they were listening to a one man band. Everything on that album is presented as it is live with no extra overdubs.

What’s your hometown of Rochester for you? Can you describe the music scene there for us city slickers in New York City?

Rochester is a midsized rust belt city where our finest delicacy is called a "garbage plate." I won't speak to the music scene here, but I will speak to the Finger Lakes region as a whole and say we have one of the best music scenes in the country. It's home base, but I find myself existing more happily in places like NYC, New Orleans, and Savannah.

What’s your favorite track on your forthcoming The New American Bible and why?

I have a song called "Joseph and Mary", which is a modern day interpretation of their Bible story set in the context of a border crossing gone bad. I'll let the song speak for itself when it's released, though.

Photo credit: Aaron Long

We typically interview punk, metal, and ska bands in this magazine so I’m obligated to ask you about the influence of punk on your sound.

Punk is my whole foundation. I played in punk bands as a teenager and even put out a one-man band punk album out under the name wunderthink during the COVID years. There is a direct line that can be drawn from Woody Guthrie to the modern day punk ethos. I've always been DIY and have never done things within the realm of how one is "supposed" to do them. There's a lot of protest songs on this new album, and I always find myself returning to those roots.

Country and Americana are typically coded as conservative, reactionary. Can you talk about the more radical side of the tradition?

They're only coded that way in the mainstream because when Reagan got into office country music pivoted towards bootlicking after being anti-establishment working class music for its entire history before then. Country music was protest music before corporate money got involved and the industry started pandering to Republican Evangelicals. If you go back and listen to country music up until the 80s, there's a mass catalog of music centered around social justice, protest, unions, etc. Modern day country artists like Sturgill Simpson, Tyler Childers, Margo Price, too many to name, are all trying to take back the tradition.

Photo credit: Aaron Long

Who are your favorite acts you’ve played with, your comrades, your day ones?

On a local level, The Cast Iron Cowboys based out of Ithaca, NY, as well as Brock Saltsman who does solo stuff but also has a very good indie rock band called Pluck. As far as people I've opened for: I opened for Steve Earl a few years ago and he's a legend. Got to chat with him a bit and shake his hand and that was pretty cool.

Anything else you’d like to add that we haven’t talked about already?

I'm preaching to the choir here as y'all are an anti-fascist mag, but I'd like to say this: Revolution is coming in this country and we're all waking up to some very hard and unfortunate truths about the drastic measures that might need to be taken. We cannot go quietly into the night as the opaque veil of fascism falls upon the land. They are literally killing us in the streets. I encourage everyone to speak out, scream like the ship is on fire and sinking, because it is, and a whole lot of people are still sleeping below deck. If you have a platform, use it.

I've been making videos recently trying to spread the message. It hasn't hurt my career. Art is inherently anti-fascist, and if you don't want to "get political" online, you're a part of the problem. You're the person telling the other guy thats trying to wake up the people below deck to shut the fuck up because they're disturbing the peace. There's more of us than them and we need to start preparing. Get to know your neighbors, get linked up with mutual aid groups, study how to protect yourself in a protest (both if they are using non-lethal or lethal suppression techniques) learn how to shoot a gun or basic self-defense. These fucking Nazis won't relent if we ask nicely.

Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Most importantly don't be afraid. They are cowards emboldened only because they haven't been stepped up to en masse as of yet. Fuck MAGA, fuck ICE, fuck every evil-hearted bigot that hates what they cannot understand.

Anyone you'd like to thank?

I'd like to thank every person who's out there fighting the fight right now and helping their communities. They inspire me to do the same and keep me going. I'd also like to thank all of the cats of the world because they are holy creatures. The Egyptians clearly had the right idea with the vibe check there.

Jackson Cavalier’s Links: https://linktr.ee/jacksoncavalier