The night before his stroke in 2021, Don Jacobs dreamed something he couldn’t quite put into words.
The next morning, his friend stopped by and listened as Jacobs tried to describe it.
“Although I don’t remember it now,” Jacobs said, “he told me later that I’d more or less dreamed about the stroke.”
Just hours later, on a ladder in Brookhaven, Jacobs collapsed. His right side went still.
If his brother, Bill, hadn’t stopped by on his way to Memphis, according to Jacobs, he wouldn’t be here to tell the story.
“The stroke took my entire right side. No movement at all,” Jacobs said. “Since it affected my right hand/arm, I thought I’d never paint again. And I just accepted that for about four years.”
For a man whose life had always been filled with murals, music, and creativity, those four years could have been the ending to a long career in the arts. But instead, they became just the pause before his reinvention.
It was friends who nudged Jacobs to pick up a brush again, this time with his left hand. The first strokes were hesitant, but to his surprise, they worked.
“Though it’s not as exact as my right hand had been, it wasn’t bad,” he said. “And so I began painting again.”
The work was different now, according to Jacobs.
Gone were the figurative images and detailed scenes. In their place came abstractions, swirls of motion, color, and energy.
“I used to think in terms of a picture,” Jacobs said. “Now I think in terms of abstract ideas, movement. It was really kind of fun.”
Jacobs’ path began in Brookhaven, where he grew up until leaving at 18. After a year at Belhaven College, he moved to Germany, learning the language and studying art for six years.
When he finally decided it was time to come home, Jacobs hitchhiked his way back to Mississippi. He caught a ride with a girl and her mother headed toward Jackson. Nothing came of the encounter, but it got him where he needed to be.
Music remained close at hand as he played with longtime collaborator Tommy McClymont, a partnership that continues even now.
When Jacobs returned to Mississippi in 1980, he pursued graphic design and painting.
His most memorable piece is a 500-square-foot mural in the Governor’s Mansion conference room.
Over the years, he painted everything from signs to faux finishes to guitars and even a piano.
Music never left him, either. He later founded Brookstock, a hometown music festival that recently celebrated its 25th year.
Jacobs led it for the first two decades, performing with talented musicians, including members of Black Oak Arkansas and Little Richard’s former keyboardist.
“Then I passed it on to a friend,” he said, “luckily, because I had my stroke soon afterwards.”
Jacobs’ voice carries no trace of bitterness when he talks about life after the stroke.
“It really wasn’t that hard,” he said. “I couldn’t paint as well with my left hand, but I began experimenting. And suddenly I was just doing something different. I liked it.”
The experience has left him with one lasting conviction which is urgency.
“Don’t take anything for granted,” he said. “Life can change in the twinkle of an eye. One moment you have everything and in the next your life is changed completely. Do it now or you may not get another chance.”
These days, Jacobs splits his time between abstract painting and recording music once more with McClymont. He doesn’t talk about goals or plans, he just creates.
“I’m pretty much doing my thing,” he said. “Art and music.”
And while he admits he doesn’t know what this second chapter will bring, he leans into possibility.
“I really don’t know what my ‘second chapter’ will look like. I’m getting older. I don’t expect much more, but you never know.”
