Jason Wesley

Ask Jason Wesley to describe himself onstage, and he’ll give you a modest shrug and say, “I don’t know – explosive, maybe?” His enthusiastic fans will gladly throw out a few more adjectives, though, when they talk about his performances. Try “no holds barred,” “high octane,” “through the roof “and “pedal to the metal” just for starters. But no matter what you call it, when you talk about Jason Wesley, it all comes down to the music. He’s a performer totally at home onstage – and the more revved up his audiences are, the better he likes it. From the moment Jason grabs the microphone and starts singing, it’s all-out full throttle overdrive, and he rarely slows down. Jason was born January 1, 1978 in Pontiac, Michigan, just outside Detroit, but he’s lived in the South most of his life. You can hear his Southern roots rock influences in just about every song he does. Whether he’s fronting a cover of “Midnight Rider” or growling his way through an original like “Bad News in Baton Rouge,” Jason is clearly a guy who knows who he is and what he wants to do. Jason describes his sound as very rugged, strong and to the point. “Kinda like early Montgomery Gentry with some Waylon, Hank Jr. and Chris LeDoux thrown in for good measure.” Jason adds, “I’ve always absolutely loved Chris, of course cause we’re both bareback bronc riders and country artists but, for his 80’s hair metal style of country music and because of his wildness and explosion pyrotechnics onstage.” Jason says his dream billing would be headlining a concert with Bob Seger or Gregg Allman, as Jason states he is a “major” 70’s fan. “Probably because my mother was at a Bob Seger concert when she was pregnant with me, just about to pop.” He laughs. “People often tell me after one of my shows, ‘Hey, I don’t listen to country music but I really love what you’re doing,” he explains. “I love country and am country to the bone, but I drive it a lot harder than what mainstream country would expect. You could call it outlaw, maybe. It’s rock and blues and Southern roots, and the more I sing, the broader range it gets. I don’t do anything half-ass.” One of Jason’s favorite gigs – which keeps him booked during the summers on tour around most of the country – is playing biker rallies. “I don’t want to gear myself toward one certain class of people but, with the bike rallies we get a lot of rowdy people at our shows, which is cool and I love how much fun they are” he laughs. “The rallies give us a chance to play in front of huge crowds and be ourselves for an hour or two, and it’s great! You can gear yourself up for a ‘real concert type show’, rather than having to pace yourself for four hours of cover music. You can really put yourself out there on the stage and give 150%.” Jason adds, “not to mention the time spent at my merchandise booth after playing, getting to meet everybody.” Jason says his number one rule with his band is “Crank it up, kick some ass and let’s have fun!” “I don’t try to be a sticker for ‘OK, here’s what we’re gonna do,’ but I do tell them this is their job, and we need to be having fun. I want us to have more fun than the crowd. Obviously it depends on the size of the stage, but the more I have to work with, the wilder it’s gonna get. I try to be as dynamic as possible, but give me enough room and maybe explosive would be a better description!” Jason doesn’t expect success to come quickly, but he’s in it for the long haul. “In five years, I hope to be on my second or third album, touring pretty heavy and starting to make a really good dent in my career,” he says with a determined glint in his eyes. “But what I hope most of all, is that wherever I go, my audiences know that I’m gonna be around a while, and they can count on me to give the best show I can possibly give them and leave them with the, ‘I can’t wait to see him again’………….feeling.” www.jasonwesleymusic.com