| JASON CASSIDY Bio:
When Jason Cassidy was a kid, he wanted to be a rock star (who
didn’t?). But the electric guitar and lessons he got at 13 didn’t take.
Country music, however, did.
Inspired by a buddy who could name every country tune as soon as it
came on the radio, the competitive Cassidy started listening. “I totally
fell in love with it and learned every single song,” he recalls. “Before
long, I was the one who was calling all the songs.”
But it wasn’t until someone heard him delivering a
George Strait tune in a karaoke bar that
Cassidy’s musical dreams began to take flight. Impressed by his rich,
expressive tone and range, a band that had just lost its lead singer
approached him about taking the gig; a few weeks later, he was fronting
a popular Houston-area country cover act.
And now, he’s fronting his own band and released his debut album, “My
Redemption,” on Houston-based A-Blake Records. The first single, “Sounds
Like an Angel to Me,” climbed inside the top 20 on the Texas Music
Chart; its follow-up, “Honky-tonk Heaven,” took the #1 spot on the Texas
Regional Radio Report, thanks in part to the songs catchy lyrics,
Cassidy’s vocal delivery and his hard work and determination. Cassidy
has been visiting Texas radio with his fiddle player Scott Johnson and
hitting stages all over the state.
Of course, even a storybook beginning like being discovered in a
karaoke bar doesn’t always translate into a fairytale career. Cassidy’s
first band was popular, but totally dysfunctional. When he got tired of
making no money and dealing with inflated egos, he decided to put
together his own band.
But Cassidy, a tee-totaler until he turned 21, admits he had to grow
through a partying phase – and some ego issues of his own – before he
was really ready to take charge of his future.
“I wanted to write, but I was too busy having a good time,” the
father of two admits. “I never got that fire lit under me until 2009.”
In October of that year, he met Brandi, who inspired him to begin
composing and helped him rediscover his spiritual side. Cassidy wrote
the title song of “My Redemption” on the way home from a church
fellowship session that November.
There comes a time in everyone’s life, you gotta slow down and
find the light
Surrender the losing fight, take your wrongs and make ’em right.
“I called my cousin and songwriting partner, Justin Jones, and sang
what I had so far, and he said ‘I’m on my way,’” Cassidy recalls. “We
sat down and moved some things around and made the best sense of the
message I was trying to get across, and from that moment on I felt like
I was reborn in my brand new skin.” That was the genesis of many songs,
and his debut album, which features co-writes with several friends and
colleagues.
He may be a late bloomer when it comes to songwriting, but Cassidy is
making up for lost time. An affable guy, the 6-foot-tall Texan, who
describes his sound as traditional country “and honky-tonk with an
edge,” could go lyric-for-lyric with any Nashville word-slinger. And his
voice, which scales from a resonant baritone to a melodic high tenor,
outdoes plenty of Music Row’s biggest award collectors. Cassidy, who
says, “George Strait’s pretty much the reason I started playing music in
the first place,” is too humble to admit he’s that good, of course. “I’m
my own worst critic,” he confesses. “I don’t think something is good
till someone tells me it’s good.”
But he does reveal he’d love to duet with current fave
Jamey Johnson on “Honky-tonk Heaven.” No
doubt Johnson would get a kick out of the lyrics:
If there’s such a place as a honky tonk Heaven, well I’ll be there
with my boots on
I’ll strike up the band and pop a cold one
Cause even the good Lord loves a country song
I’ll meet ole Cash and I’ll meet ole Waylon
Well I’ll tune up and sing along
I’ll see the light with Luke the Drifter
Guess I’ll find out where Lefty’s gone.
Johnson would definitely nod in agreement – and amusement – at the
verse:
Don’t sell your soul – you’re gonna need it with you
To get past Pete at the pearly gates
Your ticket’s been bought and it’s at God’s will-call
If you’re lucky son, you won’t have to wait.
Right now, Cassidy isn’t waiting for much. He’s been playing shows
like crazy, burning it up on stage with a band that is as good as it
gets: On fiddle is Scott “Skittle” Johnson who toured with Charlie
Daniels (when he was all of 17!), played with
Vince Gill, Clint Black, John Rich, Asleep at the Wheel and many
others; on guitar is John Towslee; on drums is Spencer Booth; and on
bass is Daniel Lindsey. Jason calls them the Angel Band because, as he
told Fox news, “God brought us together”!
He married his soul mate, Brandi, in August 2010 (they were
introduced at one of his gigs; it was mutual attraction at first sight).
Jason is looking forward to restarting his vintage car collection – he
began rebuilding hot-rods with his dad when he was 13. You might have
seen his 1961 bubble top Impala, which has been in magazines and made
the Good Guys monthly about six times. He’s always looking forward to
spending time hunting and fishing, and hanging with his kids.
But he no longer has the time for his old partying ways, even though
he’ll still “pop a cold one” now and then, if only to celebrate how he’s
turned his life around: He’s got a woman who loves him, he’s got God, a
great band and a career that’s on track.
It already sounds like a happy ending, but if all goes well, there
will be many more chapters to come. With lyrics and melodies, too – and
maybe even a duet with Jamey Johnson. Preferably onstage at one of those
awards shows.
website:
www.JasonCassidyOnline.com |
