Swag Spotlight: Jameson Rodgers

Jameson Rodgers is our next Swag Spotlight and definitely an artist to watch this year.  Releasing his latest 5 song EP earlier this month, Rodgers’ sound is unique and rugged. Growing up in Mississippi,  he can recall listening to old recordings of his grandfather’s band. The Delta Playboys. Just before turning ten years old, Rodgers went to the Pyramid in Memphis to see Garth Brooks perform.  He clearly remembers watching him on stage, smashing the guitar and thinking that it was the coolest thing he had ever seen. Besides influences like Garth Brooks and country music, Rodgers always loved the music they would play in between innings at his baseball games including John Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen, and Tom Petty.

With music in his blood but baseball on his mind, he pursued a career in baseball all through high school and ended up at Southern Mississippi, where he eventually started writing songs. Playing those songs with his roommates at local bars or around a fire, he was hooked. After graduating, Rodgers headed to Nashville. “I didn’t know a soul, so I just started writing with whoever I could. I went to open mic nights and played, wrote a bunch of bad songs, then finally wrote a few good ones that landed me a publishing deal in 2014,” he tells us.

His latest self-titled EP features five tracks, three of which Rodgers co-wrote. The songs are a culmination of music he has loved over the past few years. He explains that his songwriting process varies daily, but he loves to be the “idea guy” and bring the idea of a song to the table. Listen to the full EP below.