Jason Rogers Country Music

Article Date: 4/15/08
Source: Dale McGarrigle – Bangor Daily News

It’s been an eventful couple of months for Jason Rogers.

In mid-March, the Presque Isle native, now a country singer living in Nashville, won the country category with his song “Breathe Into Me” in the Song of the Year competition, sponsored by VH1 Save the Music Foundation, beating out thousands of entries.

He previously had won honorable mentions for both “Breathe Into Me” and “Thinkin’ About Changin’” in Billboard’s World Song Contest.

Winning the country category in the Song of the Year competition has earned Rogers, who goes by the stage name of Cowboy Jason, a spot on CMT’s artist pages on its Web site. He has been told that his entry will be up in four to six weeks.

“Winning the actual category means a lot to me, because it gets you in some new doors,” said Rogers from his home in Lyles, Tenn.

For example, some of the Nashville area papers have taken notice of him. Also, “Breathe Into Me” is getting greater airplay both domestically and abroad.

Also, the victory will enable him to meet Nashville photographer Glenn Sweitzer, who is shooting photos for Rogers’ debut album.

The music is all recorded for that album, named “Breathe Into Me” after the successful single, but the packaging is still being completed. Rogers hopes it will be out in another month.

Now that he has product to move, Rogers will begin playing live. On Saturdays, he plays two live radio programs, the “Grinder Switch Radio Hour” in the morning and the “Grand Ol’ Hatchery” in the evening. On Tuesdays, he’ll perform at the Country Music Hall of Fame Lounge.

All three of those gigs are with house bands, but he’ll slowly be putting together his own band as well.

“I’m trying to hire studio musicians for my band,” he said. “I was a businessman who turned musician, so I’ve been very cautious in hiring.”

For more information, visit www.myspace.com/jasonrogerscountry music.

Article Date: 4/2/08
Source: Westview – Nashville Newspaper

Jason Rogers – WESTVIEW Nashville Newspaper
Current mood: blessed
Category: Music

Wednesday April 2, 2008
Vol. 32 No. 14

Westview Nashville Newspaper
Dickson Gazette, White Bluff Gazette, Williamson Gazette, Fairview Gazette

Local Jason Rogers “Breathe Into Me’ Voted Country ‘Song of the Year’

Song of the Year International is a contest that encourages the art and discipline of songwriting. The 2007 yearly category winners were recently announced. Local Jason Rogers was voted country Song of the Year, with his latest “Breathe Into Me”.

For Jason Rogers, music has always been a central part of his life. Growing up in a small, rural community in eastern Canada, Jason’s character was rooted in a simple, less complicated way of life that has been intrinsic to the heart of country music. Jason started his passion for music at the age of two when he would entertain his family and company with his rendition of Glen Campbell’s “Rhinestone Cowboy”. The desire to perform drove Jason to become an accomplished piano, guitar, and percussion player. With these abilities Jason moved beyond performance, and began to create his own music and express his talents in a more personal way. At age 25 , his abilities finally drove him to Nashville, now a local Lyles resident. Jason is currently working with Music City Productions to record his first album, scheduled for release in May, 2008. He recently finished shooting 2 videos for his tunes, including, “Breathe Into Me.”

Jason Rogers believes that the power of music is found by hearing another’s heart, another’s thoughts, communicated in a way that touches you from the inside out. Jason says that his experience is that music bares our innermost thinking, and in doing so, we can relate to someone’s experience of pain or joy. Music gives us a brief insight into the moment, and in so doing, we can separate ourselves from everyday challenges, and actually feel the emotion the writer is portraying. As an artist, you have the desire to create these shared experiences, be they good or bad, with those around you, and in turn, the performer can sense the listeners response, as they relate to the similarity of experiences that they too, have felt, enabling the music to strike familiar notes in everyone’s life, notes that touch deeply.

You can learn more about this amazing, local talent by going to www.SongoftheYear.com or www.MySpace.com/JasonRogersCountryMusic

http://www.westviewonline.com/

Article Date: 4/1/08
Source: Bugle-Observer By Shawn Merrithew

A Nashville singer-songwriter with Carleton County roots hopes his award-winning song will ‘breathe’ new opportunities as he pursues in music career in the heart of county music.

Last month, Wicklow’s Jason Rogers was notified his original song Breathe Into Me was voted top song in the country music category of the 2007 International Song of the Year competition.

The rising young country star said receiving the honour is “an amazing feeling that is hard to beat.”

He hopes to turn the award into bigger and better things, especially from the songwriter’s standpoint. The recognition of one of his songs, he explained, could earn interest from major recording stars.

“It is a good thing to win the yearly thing because it gives your songs a lot of recognition,” said Rogers. “Right now, they are being looked at by celebrity judges, like Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Jewel, ABC and Rolling Stone magazine. I know it is only one song, but it is great to have your tune heard by a lot of people who could push the button and take your career off in a different direction, and it is a good career to have your tune cut by an Alan Jackson.”

Rogers was informed of his accomplishment on March 9, via e-mail, and his song will now go up against the other genres of music for the grand prize of $10,000.

But money is not the issue for Rogers.

“People are always into the money and are like what do you get?’” he said. “I don’t care about the money, I care about winning the category because that recognizes who you are. That will help my career a ton, (and), if you win the Grand Slam against other genres, who knows what would happen to your song after that.”

Rogers wrote Breathe Into Me about five years ago. He recalled he and a friend were planning to head out for a night on the town in Nashville when the song suddenly came to him. He told his friend to grab a pen because he had song, and, within 10 minutes, he had it written.

At that point, Rogers said, he believed he had a hit song about love.

“When I was writing it, I purely thought about what I wanted for love (and) what would the perfect scenario be for love,” he recalled. “I literally pictured two people out on a hard-wood dance floor. I pictured it like a movie and wrote down what I thought. It is about two people who are in love on a dance floor.”

Rogers hoped to see his Song of the Year hit the airways with authority. While it still hasn’t seen radio play in Nashville, Breathe Into Me has gained strong airplay in Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Ireland, United Kingdom and Australia as well as on the American West Coast and parts of Canada. The Canadian songwriter is not discouraged.

“I’m working my way into local radio,” he explained. “I’ve talked to a guy named Billy Block, he does the Billy Block on WKDF (in Nashville). I’m trying to get in local radio here because it kind of spurts out.”

Rogers’ hit song will be featured on his upcoming, self-titled debut album due to be released by May. Rogers, who finished recording the 12-track CD at OMNISound Studios in Nashville, said all that remains to be done is a photo shoot and album graphics.

“Then we have us a CD, hopefully within a month or six weeks,” Rogers pointed out.