Jason Martin

I’m 31, originally from Plaquemine, Louisiana (just outside of Baton Rouge).  I play rock and roll.  

My dad Harold Bell  Martin Jr., taught me how to play guitar at age 5.  Having the patience of a 5 year old, I didn’t really catch on until I was 14.  As soon as I got good enough to play “Free Bird”, I spent 11 years playing dive bars and casinos with cover bands throughout the Southeast.  Had tons of fun, too much probably, but I  finally decided that shit wasn’t worth the money, so I started writing my own songs and moved to Nashville in 2011.  I had a friend in Nashville, so I came to visit him and instantly fell in love with the place.  The second time I visited, I started renting a 2 bedroom/1 bathroom house in East Nashville, near Rosepepper.  

After the move, I didn’t really have a purpose or a drive aside from getting drunk, writing songs and making money.  With the move I released my first ever recorded EP called “First Sign of Light”.  It’s garbage, no one should listen to it, but at the time, those songs meant something to me.  2011 flew by and before I knew it, I lost my job, and had some family drama and I needed to be with them, so I moved back.  

It broke my heart, leaving Nashville.  I resented every day I didn’t live there, I fell into a sloppy, depressed pit of drugs and drinking.  I recorded a full length album called “The Blackout Sessions”, inspired by life at the time.  It too was garbage, the guy who mixed it was actually deaf in one ear, but again, it meant something at the time.  The album actually did pretty well though.  The studio I worked at did foley for movies and got me a placement in a straight to TV christian film (I don’t consider myself a christian artist in any way shape or form).  But because of that, the record did ok.  In turn, I got to open for these folks:  Marc Broussard, The Whigs, Turnpike Troubadours, Kevin Fowler (I had a booking agent who thought I was country for a while for some reason) and some other people I can’t remember.  Aside from that 2012-2014 were some dark times for old J-bird (that’s what I call myself in my head).  I needed a re-boot.  

Early 2014, I got a management deal from a buddy in the metal industry and his boss, they funded an EP called “Welcome Home”.  I actually still like some of the tunes on this one.  I played some shows with it, but ultimately, nothing happened and I lost the management deal and paid them back.  

Late 2014 I started getting calls from some friends in Nashville to play guitar for them.    So, July 2015, I moved back to Nashville.  Got me a good woman, and as a whole, I feel like I have most of my shit together.  Two years later, after writing a shit ton of songs, I feel like I have 10 good ones that I plan on putting out soon.  That’s my story thus far.  Thanks for reading

-Jason Charles Martin