Jackson Gillies: A Santa Barbara Main Stage Staple

As a kid in Long Island, New York, Jackson Gillies woke up one of two ways: his mother Connie stirring him for his type 1 diabetes insulin shots, or his father Billy “cranking the Grateful Dead and Genesis through the floorboards.” What follows is a life of tireless dedication to music and activism for his chronic condition – however, not the one listed above.

Connie, a piano savant, can play anything by ear. Until the advent of music streaming, Billy was a frequent flyer at the public library’s CD section, burning countless albums to his 70,000+ song iTunes library. But it was only after watching his brother Taylor in a school production of Les Miserables that Gillies’ genes kicked in. He starred in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and said, “people knew me after as the ‘singing guy on stage.’ I was obsessed from then on.” 

Gillies’ had lived his life with type 1 diabetes without much trouble. But a greater health anomality, as Gillies prepared for his freshman year of high school, put his life indefinitely on pause. “Bob,” as Gillies infamously calls it, a cyst the size of a golf ball, bloomed in the middle of his forehead overnight. What followed was six to seven identical abscesses on each of Gillies’ legs, the pain rendering him unable to walk.

After countless doctors, Gillies was diagnosed with hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), a currently incurable, autoinflammatory disease. It causes tight pustules to crop up typically where there is skin-to-skin contact on the body. Anywhere you sweat? Imagine the most painful infection you’ve ever had. For Gillies, there’s tens of them, ranging from the size of a pea to a tangerine, on any given day.

Since his diagnosis in 2014, Gillies has withstood hundreds of Bobs. Despite affecting about 4% of the world’s population, the causes and remedies to HS remain under-researched; thus, Gillies and his family have had to troubleshoot their own solutions through painful trial and error. Enter Santa Barbara.

Gillies’ family moved to Santa Barbara in 2015. Our temperate climate and panache for organic foods makes it an oasis for those with autoinflammatory and diet-contingent diseases. Though the climate has helped, Gillies still can only eat the following: organic, heavily salted chicken breasts, select vegetables, and water, only to keep the routine flare-ups at bay.

In search of an outlet for his unrest, Gillies began learning guitar from his stepdad, Jeff. Raised on folk and classic rock, all Gillies wanted to learn was The Avett Brothers and The Grateful Dead. “I totally rejected pop music. Then John Mayer started playing with the Grateful Dead. I’m like, ‘who’s this pop guy playing with my Grateful Dead boys?’ And then I love him.”

Following the embrace of John Mayer, Phoebe Bridgers and Bon Iver, Gillies began writing songs. Gillies’ natural gift for guitar, tender songwriting, and impressive vocals quickly landed him in the spotlight of Santa Barbara’s young talent. In 2016, Gillies won Teen Star USA, a rigorous yearly singing competition.

As we caught up over coffee – or really, him watching me drink coffee, as is his reality with HS – I asked Gillies if he knew the moment he’d pursue music. After less than a beat, he said: “The minute I won Teen Star, I thought, ‘People do this as a job? Oh, I think I could do this.’”

Gillies’ entrance into the Santa Barbara music scene coincided with his pursuit of HS activism. Even through the trenches of his condition, he put on the “Something That Matters Concert” to raise awareness. In 2018, he held a TedX Talk titled “Bringing HS Out of the Dark,” now hosting over 1.3K comments from others affected by HS supporting Gillies’ mission and giving advice to others in the comments.

In 2019, Gillies’ talent and story of resilience took him to American Idol. Soon after, he studied under the wings of music legend Kenny Loggins, most notably collaborating with Loggins to host the concert “Teens Sing for Santa Barbara,” which raised over 75,000 dollars for those affected by the Thomas Fire. 

After COVID cut short his time at London Institute of Contemporary Music Performance, Gillies scrapped school to embark on a songwriter’s rite of passage: recording and releasing his music by himself. It culminated in his first full-length album, High and Low, the arrangement written and almost entirely played by Gillies. In my favorite tracks—“July 17th,” “Pretend,” and “Sunset,” you’ll find sweeping slide guitar and the quiet serenades we think to ourselves in heartache. 

These days, you can find Gillies shredding in groovy, flowing wares in venues from Downtown Santa Barbara – including The Granada, SoHo, Wylde Works, Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company, and the Lobero Theatre – to Jeff Bridges’ Lost Chord in Solvang. Not only does he perform his own discography, Gillies heads the Grateful Dead cover band Jax Plays Dead and features in other local projects including Ladyfinger and Neil and Friends. 

To wrap the interview, I asked Gillies’ what’s next in his career. He wordlessly handed me his phone tuned to a notes page with tens of songs under album headers. “The plan for the next record is to multi-track and tape it at a creek.” 

Aside from unbridled creativity, Gillies’ incessant pursuit of success – against not only emotional but physical adversity – is what sets him apart. When I playfully chastised him for his non-stop ambition, he said, “Every moment I am fighting ‘not good enough.’ But I think that’s what makes me good. I don’t rest on any laurels.”  

Jackson Gillies’ album High and Low and other releases can be found on any major music streaming platform. Keep posted by following his Instagram @jackson.gillies. Learn more about his music pursuits and HS journey at jacksongilliesmusic.com.