Jeff Buckley: grace

As the much-anticipated It’s Never Over, Amy Berg’s documentary on the late and enigmatic Jeff Buckley, hits the screens, I find myself reflecting on the impact his music had on my own early twenty-something existence at the time.

I remember hearing the album’s breakout track, “Last Goodbye,” for the first time and thinking, Who is this guy? The vocals were intoxicating, hauntingly precise and emotionally raw all at once. Of course, I bought the Grace CD soon after and cherished it like a piece of art. I must admit, at the time, I was a little obsessed. So much so that, nearly a decade later, I spent the most part of my last $1,000 on a Merry Cyr print of Jeff at the Surry Hills Gallery in Sydney. It cost around $750, and I remember thinking: What could possibly go wrong that I’d need more than $250 and a Jeff Buckley print to my name?

Jeff’s songwriting tugged at every heartstring, and the vocals delivered a level of emotional depth that no one else seemed to be reaching.

Not only was Buckley’s songwriting raw and profound, but he was also an accomplished guitarist. His playing blended intricate fingerpicking, alternate tunings, and dynamic phrasing, all of which perfectly complemented his ethereal voice.

And then there was that voice. So unique. Channeled with purity one moment and ferocious, gut-wrenching emotion the next, Jeff had a natural gift for expressing the highs and lows of life’s emotional color wheel. With Grace being his only completed studio album before his untimely death by drowning in the Mississippi River, it stands as a hauntingly iconic tribute, a thread of brilliance left behind to honor the muse (Grace) that continues to fuel his enduring legacy.

Jeff Buckley

“Grace is what matters, in anything, especially life, especially growth, tragedy, pain, love, death….that is a feature that I strongly respect. It prevents you from pulling the trigger too soon. It keeps you from destroying things too foolishly. It sort of keeps you alive; and it keeps you open for more understanding.”

For Jeff Buckley, the muse seemed to arrive clothed in grace, a thread woven through his voice, his presence, and his art. Grace, for him, wasn’t polished perfection, but a state of surrender. It’s undeniable that the vocal brilliance he delivered could only come from such unguarded openness, a willingness to be moved by something far greater than himself.

His singing carried a fragile strength, trembling between vulnerability and transcendence with every note. As a noted admirer of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Buckley shared a longing for emotional truth and spiritual connection in performance, a desire to reach beyond the song into something divine.

Though we were gifted only a brief catalogue of his musical expressions, the elegance and purity of his sound continue to echo. His legacy burns quietly but powerfully, stoking the creative embers of generations to come.

Robert Plant, Lez Zepplin

“I saw him in a tiny room in Cafe Chenet in New York once and he was bigger than the room for sure. It was mind altering, his voice, spectacular singing. So much conviction.”