Jason Rogers Country Music

Article Date: 3/25/08
Source: The Tennessean – By Teri Burton

Jason Rogers says he’s always got a song in his heart.

He wants to share his heart – and his voice – with anybody who will listen and he’s realizing some success on the Internet.

The Hickman County singer-songwriter, who lives right outside of Dickson County in Lyles, appears to be one of the happiest fellas on the planet with his cheek-to-cheek grin and a giggle in his voice. He garnered Song of the Year for 2007 with his country song, “Breathe Into Me” in a recent contest and has also charted two of his self-penned songs on the Billboard Top 1,500 Songs in America.

“That’s what’s going on right now. That’s the big thing,” he said about “Breathe Into Me.”

His other songs, “Thinkin’ About You” and “Why Does Everybody Look at Me?” are also on the Internet.

Rogers, 31, was born in Presque-Isle, Maine and lived for a while in New Brunswick. He said he’s dabbled in songwriting since he was 18 and came to Tennessee, like so many others with big dreams, in 1998 to launch a career in the music business. He finally got started eight years later.

“About two years ago I said, ‘I have some good songs. I’d like to be a songwriter,’” he said. “Well, we went in and recorded the first three and they turned out so good my producer talked me into being an artist. He said we don’t need to do demos, we need to do full-on music.”

His music, he said, is clean and heartfelt. He just wants it to make a difference and share the music freely.

“Everybody’s got a different heart. You just hope yours touches other people,” he said. “I don’t want to be Toby Keith. I just want to be a part of Nashville music and be a part of helping younger people. The few good people I’ve surrounded myself with have taught me one thing: the people that do well are the ones that share. It’s never one person, it’s 30 people and everybody helps each other. That’s what makes good teamwork.”

Personal contact with his fans is important to Rogers.

“I’ve found that personal contact will take you a long way in life,” he said. “People want that connection. I can’t do it maybe 10 years from now but today I can. I answer all me emails.”

He even does his “Happy Birthday” every day on his MySpace.

“It’s my little thing. Anybody who has a birthday, I want to say ‘Happy Birthday’ to,” he said. “I think that’s just something special.”

Rogers said he’s always known he’s a good writer. He knew it would be tough breaking into the business and he sure didn’t plan on singing his own songs.

“You’re in a tough city here to write because everybody’s so good,” he said of Nashville. “There’s good songwriters probably on my street. That’s what I wanted to be, just a songwriter. It progressed and I had to ditch a few fears along the way. I wasn’t really prepared for that.”

But as it stands today, he’s currently forming his own record label and will be the solo artist – at least at first.

Later on, he said, he wants to take on some young talent.

“I’m amazed by young talent when it’s real, when they’re not being prepped by the people around them,” he said.

He said he’s really pushing his own music over the Internet before he releases anything for sale.

To support his ambitions he landed a job managing the Loveless Cafe. But the job didn’t last 48 hours.

“I quit the next day,” he said. “I realized that was 55 to 60 hours a week. It was a choice. I can’t do country music when I’m 50 as easily as I can now, so it was either do it or don’t do it. I left and I said, ‘it’s all music for at least a few years.’ I can always be a manager or do anything anywhere. I’ve always found that there are a lot more opportunities working than there are in music.”

Over the next several weeks Rogers plugged a few songs over the Internet to see how they’d fare. He was pleased with the results.

“We found that the majority of our audience is actually 18- to 25-year-old females, which is actually what record labels shoot for,” he said. “They always say that if your girlfriend tells you to buy a CD you do it, even if you don’t like it.”

Rogers has been married to his wife, Christie, for nearly four years. The couple is expecting their first child in September.

Rogers said they don’t know, yet, what the child’s gender will be.

“We’re going to find out the old-fashioned way,” he said.

Article Date: 3/17/08
Source: Hickman County Times – Centerville, Tennessee

Jason Rogers – Hickman County Times
Current mood: blessed
Category: Music
Hickman County Times

Volume 60 — Number 9, Centerville, Tennessee
Monday, March 17, 2008

Aetna, Bon Aqua, Bucksnort, Coble, Farmer’s Exchange, Gray’s Bend, Grinders Switch, Little Lot, Locust Creek, Lyles, Nunnelly, Only, Pinewood, Pleasantville, Primm Springs, Shady Grove, Shipp’s Bend, Spot, Swan, Totty’s Bend, Vernon, Wrigley

Rogers’ “Breathe” is Tops ( Front Page )

Lyles country songwriter Jason Rogers will know by the end of the week whether he has won an international competition.

That’s because his “Breathe Into Me” single was judged the best of 12 monthly Country compositions in the year-long Song of the Year competition. His tune is now being judged against songs in several other genres – from Christian and rap to rock and roll and jazz — with results and the $10,000 prize to be announced by March 21.

“I guess, good things can happen,” said the good-humored singer, a Canadian who moved here in 1998 in pursuit of a country music career.

Rogers is tickled about the success of the song, though he’s more interested in his music being widely disseminated. Listen to the song at www.MySpace.com/JasonRogersCountryMusic.

“It’s just great that all of these people are going to hear a song that I wrote,” he said last Wednesday, four days after finding out his piece was the contest’s best Country song of 2007.

The songwriter has finished recording a 12-track CD, which should be released in about six weeks, though he laughs when he says it because it’s been in the works since last spring.
“It’s an all-hit album,” he said.

Article Date: 3/11/08
Source: Nashville City Paper – By Ron Wynn

Nashville singer/songwriter Jason Rogers’s tune “Breathe Into Me” has been voted top song in the ‘country’ division of the international Song of the Year competition for 2007.

Rogers was notified of his victory Sunday via e-mail. Now he will be competing with the winners from the genres of adult contemporary, rock, folk, Christian/gospel, hip-hop/R&B, instrumental/jazz/world, dance/electronic and pop.

The ultimate winner gets $10,000, with $1,500 going to the second place finisher and $500 for third. Winners will be announced in about a month.

“I really wanted to write a song that presented my view on the importance of love in a relationship,” Rogers said. “It was important for me to show the difference between love and sex, because so much of what we hear and see now focuses strictly on sex, while love to me is the far more important thing. I was just interested in getting the song out and having people possibly get a chance to hear it. I certainly didn’t expect it to get that much attention.”

Songs are being judged by panel members that include previous Grammy winners, professional songwriters and industry professionals. Winners have their music sent to record labels, music publishers, management and booking agents for further evaluation and analysis.

Rogers, who moved to Music City in 1998, was born in Maine, but grew up in New Brunswick, Canada.

“Breathe Into Me” is currently getting airplay in eight countries, including parts of Europe and Australia, plus some regional exposure in America. It’s also going to be one of the singles on Rogers’ forthcoming new CD, which is set for release next month.

For more on Rogers, check out his MySpace page at myspace.com/jasonrogerscountrymusic

“The song is getting a lot of attention because people are using it as a wedding song,” Rogers continued. “But I am just thrilled that it has gotten some exposure through this contest, because you don’t really expect anything when you get into a situation where you are competing with people around the world. I have no big expectations about winning the whole contest, although I sure would love for that to happen.”