Jonathan Edwards big break came when Jason Aldean cut and recorded his song, "Country Boy's World" for his My Kinda Party album in 2010. After paying his dues in Music City, Edwards quickly developed a sound and style all of his own, creating a buzz with those in his inner circle, including Aldean's band -- Tully Kennedy, Rich Redmond and Kurt Allison. The relationships with the three musicians helped Edwards knock down even more doors when all four began working closely together on the songwriter's music after Kennedy, Redmond and Allison formed New Voice Entertainment, responsible for the production behind many rising acts, as well as country duo Thompson Square.
Door after door continued to open for Edwards, and he eventually formed his new band American Plowboy. The band -- that also features Dee Jay Silver -- recently shot their debut music video in Nashville, and they are gearing up for their shot in the spotlight. Roughstock recently chatted with Edwards about his musical journey that led him to where he is today ... on the brink of stardom.
Roughstock: Obviously Nashville knows you as one of the up and coming great songwriters, but tell us about your musical start and when you first came to town.
Jonathan Edwards: I moved here in 2001, and I signed my first publishing deal with Roger Murrah in 2004. I was there for two years, and I got close to getting a cut, but no tamale. Then I signed with Magic Mustang in 2007, and that changed my life.
And that is where your relationship with Jason Aldean started, which eventually led to you having a cut on one of his albums ...?
Jonathan: At that time, I think his first record had just come out. He was on the rise. The label was doing good. Jason's band -- Tully Kennedy, Kurt Allison and Rich Redmond -- just started doing some demo sessions, and I really loved what they did, so I asked Broken Bow's A&R gal, Tina Crawford, if she would ask the guys if they would play on some demos of mine. They did and the rest is history. These guys became like brothers to me. We just clicked musically and as people. A couple years into working with the guys, I started to write some stuff that sounded something like Aldean might cut, and Tully played a couple things for Jason. It was then when my song 'Country Boy’s World' made it on his My Kinda Party album.That was obviously a big cut. I was grateful to get on that and for him to cut the song. Until then, I had all the same heartbreaks as everybody else ... Songs that were cut but never made the record, I've had so many songs on hold and so many 'almosts.' I’ve been there through the growing of the BBR Music Group and have been so blessed to be part of something so special. All of those relationships have led me to where I am right now."
What was the turning point in your career where you decided to shift focus from songwriting to life as an artist?
Jonathan: Well my focus has always been on songwriting on but a few months back I was in the studio with Ilya and Chris over at Benchmark Sound working on demos, and Ilya came out of the booth saying, 'John ... You've got your own sound. Why aren't you doing your own thing man?' I told him I'd tried it before, and nothing happened. He encouraged me to go after it again, and I left the studio with his voice in my head making me think maybe I should try it again. Not long after that, me and Tully were writing, and I told him I was thinking of starting my own thing. He didn't really say much then other than he thought it was cool. We finished our song, and like 3 days later I got a call from him saying, 'Hey ... Can you meet me and the guys up at Starbucks?' I didn't really know what they wanted me up there for and they wouldn’t really say so I pulled up and went in and [Kurt] Allison was like, 'So Edwards ... You're going to do your own thing huh?' I was like, 'Yeah!' He said, 'Well Tully told us about it, and we're behind you brother. We think you're at the top of your game, your songs are killer and let's put something together.'"
There is another familiar face and name in American Plowboy -- Dee Jay Silver. Tell us how working with him fell into place.
"I had gone out to Phoenix for an Aldean show, and I was hanging with Jason, Tully and the guys. That was the first time I met Silver. We just clicked. It felt like we were friends. Then I think I saw him back in Nashville ... We were hanging out at an after party following the CMA's for the label. Thompson Square had just won their first duo of the year award. We got to talking about how it would be cool to do a project together."
The first single is a song you co-wrote with Zach Crowell and Jeb Holmes called "Echo," which you recently filmed a video for in Nashville?
Jonathan: We decided to shoot a little video for it, that way we have something we can put out on the web start drawing some people to us. We didn't have a huge budget, but I built a set with a few good friends, and we got something pretty cool. Keech Rainwater from Lonestar shot the video and directed it for us. When we met to go over the treatment for the video and Keech heard the song, he actually suggested that we should have a DJ in the band because the song had a hiphop R&B thing about it. The light bulb went off and I said well I just happen to know a kick ass DJ that I wanted to do a project with anyway and so American Plowboy was formed. We can't wait for everybody to see it and see what they think about it. We’re going to be the first country band with a DJ."
What are your goals and dreams for American Plowboy?
Jonathan: We want to build something around this song ... Turn people onto it. This first song is a little safe because we don't want to scare anybody from what we're going to do in the future. We want to really push the envelope by mixing genres together. We're always going to be a country rock band, but we just want to come out with something that's going to sound fresh and something new. I'm one of those people who like all types of music. Yeah, we are in the country music genre, but I like to mix it up. I'm not just one thing. I love all types of music. Michael Jackson's Thriller album is probably one of my favorites ever. When I heard Eddie Van Halen do the solo in 'Beat It,' I thought it was so cool to do to mix it up like that. Same thing when Jason did 'Dirt Road Anthem.' I love it when genres sort of intertwine. Guys like Jason and Luke [Bryan] really opened the door for what it is we do. It led us to our sound. Those are our influences, so we'll see how fans accept us."
0 Comments