Jack Oblivian

Jack Yarber, a central presence in Memphis garage rock and punk-blues circles who performs most often as Jack Oblivian, helped establish both the Oblivians and the Compulsive Gamblers, two groups that shaped the local sound, while also issuing solo recordings and joining projects with other key Memphis figures. Alongside creative partner Greg Cartwright, Yarber drove the Oblivians’ output of gritty, high-energy rock & roll that balanced punk urgency with roots influences, whereas the Compulsive Gamblers delivered a denser, more cohesive sound still rooted in blues, R&B, and old-school pop. On his own, he adopted a smoother, more assured approach for the 2006 release The Flip Side Kid and the 2011 album Rat City yet retained his core intensity and raw conviction.

Born in Corinth, Mississippi in spring 1967, Yarber began playing guitar during fifth grade. As a teenager he favored heavy metal and sampled punk, then formed Johnny Vomit & the Dry Heaves in high school with guitarist Jimbo Mathus; although the band lasted only briefly at first, it reconvened for occasional shows and sessions in the 1990s and 2000s, while Mathus later found commercial success leading the Squirrel Nut Zippers. After Yarber’s family settled in Memphis, Tennessee in 1985, he and a cousin started the new wave band the End, which released a single in 1987 before splitting in 1989 once the other members left town.

Soon afterward Yarber met Greg Cartwright, and the pair launched an R&B-flavored garage group initially called the Pain Killers that quickly became the Compulsive Gamblers. The band played frequently and issued two singles in 1992, but an unstable lineup kept its profile largely local. The Gamblers dissolved in 1993 when Cartwright moved briefly to New York City to work with singer/songwriter Casey Scott, after which Yarber spent time in New Orleans. That summer, while both musicians were back in Memphis, they jammed with Eric Friedl of Shangri-La Records; trading instruments between guitars and drums, they shaped a set of minimal rock & roll songs and named the new trio the Oblivians, each adopting “Oblivian” as a surname in classic punk style.

Between 1994 and 1997 the Oblivians generated a steady flow of singles, LPs, and live documents that built a strong reputation on the garage punk circuit. In 1995 Yarber and Cartwright revived the Compulsive Gamblers as a side project for the album Gambling Days Are Over, and after the Oblivians ended they issued two further studio albums plus a live collection before shelving the group once more when Cartwright formed Reigning Sound. As the Oblivians wound down in 1997, Yarber issued the solo EP American Slang under the name Jack Oblivian, followed a year later by the full-length So Low.

During the 2000s he kept active with Memphis acts including Tav Falco, Harlan T. Bobo, ’68 Comeback, and the Limes, formed the part-time bands South Filthy and the Knaughty Knights, and later debuted his own group Jack-O & the Tearjerkers, later retitled Jack-O & the Tennessee Tearjerkers. The first Tearjerkers album, Bad Moon Rising, appeared in 2001, though the next, Don’t Throw Your Love Away, waited until 2005. The Oblivians reunited briefly in 2008 to tour with the Gories, after which Oblivian resumed solo activity with The Disco Outlaw in 2009 and Rat City in 2011. With Jack Oblivian & the Sheiks he released Live! in 2014 and The Lone Ranger of Love in 2016; in between came Dream Killer in 2015, a set of demos and outtakes. Another archival collection, Lost Weekend, credited to Jack Oblivian & Dream Killers, arrived in 2019 and drew from years of home-recorded demos of several signature songs.