Country twang

Jarred Pierce of Frog Pond is a true country boy who has recently signed with Red Ridge Entertainment and Press Management Group out of Nashville, Tenn. His first single, “It’s Going Down,” released yesterday.

By Alison James

alison.james@fct.wpengine.com

“When I was 5 years old – I remember my mother getting me a toy microphone. And I remember wearing my boots, standing on a table and singing in that microphone.”

Jarred Pierce has come a long way since then – of course, he’s still wearing boots and singing into a microphone, but as a country artist with Red Ridge Entertainment and Press Management Group out of Nashville, Tenn.

Pierce’s first single, “It’s Going Down,” released yesterday, and his first EP is due out in August. They are the products of years spent pursuing music.

Pierce, 29, got his first guitar, a Fender, at age 10 from Uncle Kerry Gilbert.

“From there, my mother taught me a few chords. She bought me a poster, and I remember I put that poster on the wall in my bedroom, and I would look at that poster and learn a chord, and then I’d learn another chord,” Pierce said. “I just kind of taught myself along the way – just picking it up mainly by ear. I was probably 15 when we started our first band.”

In his hometown of Frog Pond, Pierce’s love for singing and playing grew. A Merle Haggard concert also impressed upon him the desire to pursue songwriting.

“I remember sitting down and writing my first song,” Pierce said. “I was out fishing one day, and I had been looking at that little bobber floating. I’d close my eyes, and it was stuck in my head. I said, ‘You know, that ought to be a song.’ So I went home, and that was my first song, ‘Big Red Bobber.’ I wrote that when I was 16.”

From there, he said, “It just progressed. I loved it. I was hooked.”

Young Country – the band created by Pierce and a few high school buddies – “somehow made time between ball to practice. We’d get together probably every other day and practice and go through songs.” They made extra money playing fairs and festivals. But as time went on, Young Country went the way of most high school bands. “Kind of like that song – ‘Jimmy quit, Jody got married’ – we all just kind of split,” Pierce said. “It fell apart, so to speak, but none of us were mad. It was just life.”

Life, however, still had music in mind for Pierce. In college he played solo acoustic shows, and after college he recorded a few songs in Nashville. But he said it was something that he had stopped seriously pursuing.

“I have to credit my wife,” said Pierce. “She has always been behind me. She said, ‘You don’t need to quit. You’re good at it. Why quit? Do what you love to do.’”

A couple of months ago, his musical career opportunities hit a sharp crescendo. His father-in-law, Trent Stephenson, had a contact in Nashville.

“He said, ‘Hey. I’ve got a guy who wants to hear your stuff,’” Pierce said. “‘But before I send it, are you interested in doing music still?’”

Pierce said he was, but he was hesitant.

“I’ve had those calls before, where somebody is interested, but you’ve got to be careful who you deal with because a lot of times people are just looking for money,” Pierce said.

Three days later Pierce was asked to come to Nashville to cut three songs, which he did, accompanied by top-notch musicians like Cole Swindell’s guitarist and Taylor Swift’s drummer. When he walked out of the recording studio, his contact said,

“‘Dude. We’ve been looking for a country artist like you. It’s hard to find now.’”

Conversation led to action, and in the course of one week, Pierce had signed on with Red Ridge Entertainment – Gary Sadker serving as producer of his first record – and Press Management Group – working with David Kiggins and Kimberly Novosel, who will manage his quickly-developing career as a country artist.

Pierce called the news “overwhelming and exciting.”

“It really never hit me until a couple of weeks later, and then I was getting anxious. I was ready,” Pierce said. “I left home an electrician and came back with a record deal.”

With his single now released, the time is ripe to download it from iTunes and other music sources. Community support will help push Pierce up in the charts – essential to his developing career.

The EP will release mid-August and will feature three songs that Pierce wrote, one of which is “Home.”

“That is actually a song about the way I grew up, everything about it wrapped up in one song – everything from hearing a whippoorwill, old boots, a John Deere Tractor. It’s got a little bit of everything,” Pierce said.

He’s being heralded as a cross between Blake Shelton and Eric Church, with a distinctive, genuine country twang.

“I’m just country. I was raised that way,” he said. And that’s what he likes to sing about – fishing, hunting, the outdoors. “If I’m at home, I’m outside.”

In addition to crediting his wife Haley, Pierce also gives thanks to God for his recent success – in God’s timing.

“When I was trying for it, I wasn’t ready. God knew that. I think He actually wanted somebody beside me, so He gave me Haley,” Pierce said. “He’s had a hand in everything. Without Him, none of this would have happened.”

Coinciding with the EP release, Pierce and his managers are also in the midst of planning a tour – starting at the Watermelon Festival. He will perform on the mainstage Saturday at 4 p.m.

“I told them, ‘Whatever we do, I want to kick it off at home,’” Pierce said. “The people here have supported me, so I can’t not help out all I can here … I want everybody here to see what’s going on.”