Jason Blaine’s third album, Sweet Sundown, digs a little deeper than his last album, 2008’s fun-filled Make My Move. From dealing with life as a touring musician to saying thank you to the peacekeepers overseas, the Canadian country singer-songwriter decided to get a bit more serious this time around.
“I didn’t want to completely recreate my last record,” says Jason, 29, a native of Pembroke, Ontario, who now calls Nashville home. “I wanted half the record to be what fans might expect, what I like, what works live and fun, such as ‘Hillbilly Girl,’ but I wanted to have more dimensions to my music and that’s where ‘Heroes’ comes from.”
“Hillbilly Girl” is a boisterous rockin’ hootenanny on which Jason sings, “she’s a fire-cracker / ain’t no doubt / no way I can live without / my hot little hillbilly girl,” but the ballad “Heroes” is more poignant and emotional, inspired by the many friends Jason knows in the military willing to ”give your life up for a stranger / lay down so they can live.”
Since signing a publishing deal and living in Music City (Nash Vegas to his friends), Jason has learned a lot about songwriting — or at least the way he feels most comfortable composing songs. The Nashville way is famous for churning out songs on a daily writing schedule, which Jason did for three years, but it became more of a job and diluted his artistry.
“Right now, I’m focusing on writing for my career and writing less, gathering up really good ideas and turning them into something very goal-driven, writing with a sense of purpose,” he explains. “I’ve always got a list of ideas, but it’s something that takes some getting used to —but it’s something that I don’t mind taking a break from. I did a lot of this the past three years, walking in and meeting a complete stranger and having a personal conversation about whatever we’re going to be writing about.
“I do enjoy the co-writing process,” he says, adding that for Sweet Sundown he returned to the mill of songwriters he collaborated with on Make My Move, including Willie Mack and Noah Gordon. “It’s all about the right chemistry. People have something to offer and it’s fun. Out of the conversation usually turns out a great song. I’ve had the whole idea has come out of our morning coffee conversations.”
Jason picked up guitar at age 8 and started writing songs at 16, around the time he joined his father and brother onstage in their “hobby” band. Country was a natural direction for him. “My parents always had country music on,” he says. “I never liked anything hard or anything that made me feel angry, but I definitely grew to like rock, like AC/DC’s Back In Black.”
Although he knew he wanted to be a musician, Jason followed his friends to college as “the thing to do.” He graduated from the business program at Ottawa’s Algonquin College, and then decided on a career in music, but the degree has proved useful. “It gave me a lot of tools to run my own business and help me in the decision making process,” Jason says. “It still is the music business, but I’m thankful that music comes before the business.”
In 2002, he won Country Music Television’s Project Discovery competition, which launched his career with the 2003 single “That’s What I Do.” His independent full-length debut, While We Were Waiting, comprised of songs he wrote during and after college, came out in 2005 and included the Top 25 singles
“Heartache Like Mine,” “While We Were Waiting” and “What I Can’t Forget.” The album was rereleased in 2006 on Icon Records. The follow-up, Make My Move, came out two years later on Koch (now E1) and hit the Top 5 on the Canadian country album chart. The five singles included the Top 10 “Rock In My Boot” and Top 5 “Flirtin’ With Me.”
For the new album, Jason pushed himself more than he ever has before. “Songwriting used to be easy until I got better at it,” he says. “You learn how good something needs to be and the attention to detail. There’s a difference between a good song and a really really good song.”
On Sweet Sundown, there are many really really good songs. The blues-based rocker “Home Is A Highway” — co-written by one of Jason’s all-time heroes, Grammy-winner Steve Wariner (who also plays guitar and sings on the track) — is a bit different stylistically and the lyric is simply about what it’s like to constantly be on the road. “A song like that would be very timeless too,” says Jason.
“Up In Smoke” is about the complexity of love, while “Pictures” is about how the social networking site Facebook enables you to look back at your life through photographs. “Numb, the first single, is about those emotions people feel when love goes wrong.
There is also one cover on the album, Bryan Adams’ “When You Love Someone.” The original version Jason danced to with his bride at their wedding. “I always loved it and I believed it would make a great country song,” says Jason, now a father of a 3 year-old girl and year-old boy. Jason would love to write a song as timeless as one of Bryan’s, but just the process of songwriting is enough of a motivation for him.
“I love creating. I love the idea that every time we hear a song on the radio at one point somebody sat down, just as I sat down, and wrote a song,” he says. “I feel like I've been given some really great gifts musically, I've never taken formal lessons, so nobody could convince me that music is not the right career for me. I feel like this is really what I'm meant to be doing.” It’s very satisfying to look back at the work that I’ve done and know that I’ve been creating it and building it and been able to do some great things.” For more information please contact
Eric Alper | Director of Media Relations and Label Acquisitions E1 Music Canada 2010 Ellesmere Road, Unit 8 | Toronto, Ontario M1H 3B1 P: 416-292-8111 X240 | C: 647-280-3345 Ealper@e1ent.com www.koch.ca http://www.facebook.com/eric.alper www.twitter.com/ThatEricAlper
Quick Facts About Jason Blaine
BORN: PEMBROKE, ON CANADA HOME: NASHVILLE, TN RECORD LABEL: E1 Entertainment Canada DiscographyYEAR TITLE LABEL 2005 While We Were Waiting Icon 2008 Make My Move E1 2010 Sweet Sundown E1
Singles & VideosYEAR TITLE CHART POSITION R&R Mbase TRAX CMT 2003 That's What I Do 8* 8* 2005 Heartache Like Mine 23* 21* 19* 10* 2006 While We Were Waiting 23* 24* 21* 11* 2006 What I Can't Forget 24* 19* 21* 6* 2007 Rock In My Boot 9* 10* 5* 1* 2008 Flirtin' With Me 5* 8* 5* 1* 2008 My First Car 11* 12* 8* 5* 2008 Good Day To Get Gone 11* 11* 7* n/a 2009 Give It To Me 15* 15* 15* 3* 2010 Numb 11* 11* 8* 7*
Major Performances2007 CCMA AWARDS ON CBC (click to watch) 2007 AARON LINES “MOMENTS THAT MATTER” CANADIAN TOUR 2007 PAUL BRANDT “RISK” CANADIAN TOUR 2008 JASON BLAINE WESTERN CANADA TOUR 2009 ROGERS SARNIA BAYFEST with TIM McGRAW 2010 BROOKS & DUNN LAST RODEO TOUR (Canadian Dates)
Nominations2004 BEST NEW GROUP OR SOLO ARTIST - CANADIAN RADIO MUSIC AWARDS 2006/2007 CCMA RISING STAR - CANADIAN COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS 2008 CCMA TOP NEW TALENT – MALE 2009 CCMA MALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Source: http://www.jasonblaine.ca/about
