Join Jared on his first tour since The Voice, “By the Fans, For the Fans”
Click on the shows tab above to a listing of cities and venues through July. This tour is an intimate acoustic experience with the artist. Hear stories, songs from the show, originals, and learn more about the guy you love from the show.
“First off, let’s just say that Jared Blake is an entertainer. He could just as easilysit in during a comedy open mic night andnone would be the wiser. While on The Voice, no one could really figure out what he was. Was he country or rock? Who freakin’ cares? I say why even waste the time doing that. This guy has a brand of music all his own…” -Northwest Music Scene
**In honor of his fans, Jared will be bringing his newest guitar to be autographed by fans, so bring your favorite marker!
JARED BLAKE LAYS IT ALL ON THE LINE!
Thank you for helping JARED BLAKE reach 5000 twitter fans! As promised here are all the dirty little details! (UPDATE: Now over 21,000 fans–KEEP IT GROWING AND PEOPLE KNOWING!!) –JBM team
Here’s my story…
I was born a poor black child…wait; someone has already used that opening line (Steve Martin). I was actually born in a small town with no stoplights, no private phone lines, and little if nothing to do and no beer (dry county). That’s Star City, Arkansas in a nutshell. My parents are still happily married and I have two older brothers. They moved out of the house by the time I was nine and it was pretty much me from then on. From an early age, I would draw all over my body and rip my jeans up, and turn anything I could find into a musical instrument. I wrote my first song for my brothers’ wedding when I was six and recorded it on a cassette player. It was called, “Getting Married Is A Good Thing”. That marriage didn’t last.
My first guitar was 20 bucks and I played that thing every chance I had. Staying busy chopping wood and raising watermelons with my dad taught me hard work. He owned a convenience store and was able to pass down good leadership and responsibility skills. It also taught me how to make enough money to buy a decent guitar. As a teenager my mom was extremely helpful in getting me in singing showdowns and competitions. While we had very different ideas and desires in life, I know that my parents did their best to raise me on solid ground (somewhere between the Bible and the belt, as I say).
I left Star City after I graduated high school because I knew I had to go where the music was. The only other town I had ever been to other than my hometown was Branson, MO. I married my high school girlfriend and we were out. I stayed for a couple years writing songs and fishin’. I made pretty good money working as a singing waiter at the Hard Luck Diner cause the old ladies loved me. I got to sing and sell my music, which at 18 was considered a good job. But, it would never satisfy the artist in me. So, once I felt more like a jukebox than a human being, I moved to Nashville, TN with my wife and my best friend, Eric Landes (Co-writer).
Down to my last seven dollars spent on parking downtown for an interview, I finally got a job as a waiter. I spent a few happy years learning more about my own style of songwriting and created a solid catalog of songs. I was promoted from waiter to bartender in the heart of music city and started to meet a lot of industry folks. I would shamelessly hand them demos and ask for their feedback but found the conversation usually turned to “the voice” rater than the songs. I started to play in songwriter rounds and did a few gigs here and there. During that time I wrote with some of the greatest writers in the world and after some healthy blood, sweat and tears I finally landed a publishing deal with one of the largest music publishing companies in the nation, Sony/ATV!
By my third year in Nashville I had a second child on the way. I never planned to have children until after I had a career in music, and even though we used methods to prevent it, I had my daughter Gracyn and little Chloe on the way. I can’t speak for my wife, but something changed that year. It was obvious that I was supposed to redirect my life and get back to the stage. Trying to suppress the performer side of me was something I couldn’t do anymore. I started drinking heavily that year. Actually, religiously would be a better word. From 2002 to 2008 I was always drunk. My wife got pregnant for the third time and after that we still managed to have child number four after a vasectomy! It’s now 2008 and I’ve had two vasectomies, four kids, rehab, some jail time and a bankruptcy. I’m drunk every day, exist in a tiny apartment, and have developed a pill turned drug addiction. A few friends and colleagues came to me after seeing me in the same clothes they saw me in three days prior and asked if I wanted to go back to rehab. Yes, back. Thankfully, a program called Music Cares paid for my trip, and my life started turning around. I had to come to terms that me staying in my marriage to be able to live with my kids was killing me and certainly not helping them. We divorced. Once I accepted that I would not be able to wake up with them every morning, quitting drinking and drugs got a lot easier, as that loss was way harder to swallow.
I started my new life at the tail end of my publishing contract with Sony. I had bills to pay that had been pilling up over the last year of my addiction. I can see now that losing everything was the only way I could grow into the man I am today. I lost friends, lost my publishing deal, ended my marriage but gained me. My kids adjusted quickly and fell more in love with their new daddy. I started a decorative concrete company that combined my hard work ethics and artistic ability and just as soon as I started to get comfortable with my new life, I met Jenn. We talked on the phone four hours the first day, all night the second and have been inseparable since. She blew my mind because she was the type of person I wanted to be. She became my greatest inspiration and helped get me back into making music that I love and is the reason I am here today. Jenn pushes me in everything I do, but holds my hand every step of the way. We have six kids combined, one big happy house and I’ve asked her to someday consider marrying me (and I’m pretty sure she’s gonna).
My dreams have changed a bit and instead of dreaming of the big time, I focus on taking care of my family and doing what I love. If I could sum it all up, my tombstone would read, “Jared Blake is the kind of guy that will build the table he puts the food on”. I’ll always be a rock star to my kids, and now hopefully to the world.–Jared Blake
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