Meet Jarren Blair | Recording Artist, Songwriter, and Producer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jarren Blair and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jarren, any advice for those thinking about whether to keep going or to give up?
In the world of being an artist there is a lot of power in the attempt. Seeing my ideas through to the end and checking out how they feel always pays off more than giving up on them before they are tangible. I can always make changes or backtrack if something doesn’t feel right when I’m writing or recording, and I try to apply that when I’m collaborating in sessions as well.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’m excited for people to hear my upcoming solo releases & the production/co-writing I have done with other artist. When I was working on my first album “Happy Birthday”, the production was a tedious origin story. Because it was my first album, I wanted to define my sound around these coming of age love songs. After making a sound that felt unique to me and putting it out there, I have felt a lot more freedom with experimenting sonically. I have grown a lot as a piano player as well and that has helped with arranging as I record and write.

Going through more life experience has also helped me approach lyric writing with more nuance. My upcoming projects will be released under the moniker “put me on a stretcher records ( ●´⌓`●)”. That phrase “put me on a stretcher” started as a joke I would say if a song made me feel something deeply enough to hurt, heal, or both at the same time. My hope moving into this next phase of music is that the people listening to my tunes will experience that too.

With my collaborations, spending the first half of 2023 taking on as many co-writing sessions as possible really paid off. I have gotten to work with some incredible artist/friends and have some tracks that I am featured on with Vox Rea, Arlie, Ishani, Julia Goodwin, and more. It has been fun for me to use my production style & writing on fellow artist that I am also fans of.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
First I would show them the improv music scene in Nashville. I have been going to jams in town like The Invite at Flamingo to meet artist and musicians since 2018. I host one on Sunday nights called The Eastside Jam at Inglewood Lounge and it has been really exciting to watch it grow into a hub for local and touring musicians sit in.

Matt Garstka from Animal As Leaders is one of the drummers on the roster for our house band, and we did an improv studio session for his lesson series called Mastering Time 3. It shows a glimpse of what it’s like for me trying to figure out vocal parts for a song that is being made on the spot.

For food I love the classic spots on the east side of town like Five Points Pizza, Dino’s, and Inglewood Lounge. Cornelia Fort Airpark is also a cool spot if you like skating, running, or biking. There are trails/greenways there that lead to other parks in town.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Shoutout to Nathaniel Banks (Arlie) and Aly Lakhani (Lackhoney). I met Aly back in 2019 at a show when he lived in Nashville. At the time, Aly was releasing a new song every week and I was really inspired by that since I only had 2 songs out and was still finding my style as a producer. Aly’s band called The Hive had Emmett Haden on keys and Ben Pleasant (aka Beep) on guitar and we all became friends. They invited me to hang out one day before a studio session and that’s where I met Nathaniel. I did a session with Aly before he moved to L.A. and that is where our song Party On came from.

I co wrote the title track to my first album Happy Birthday with Nathaniel and we also have some other collaborations on the way. It was also really fun to open for Arlie and play keys in the band on a couple dates of the Break The Curse tour in 2021. It was my first time performing in some of the Northeast cities we hit. Playing keys at Summerfest in Milwaukee was a highlight for sure. There was a fan in the crowd dressed up in an outfit from one of the Arlie music videos and it was really inspiring to see that visual representation of how far your music can reach.

Website: https://linktr.ee/jarrenblair

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jarrenblair/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jarrenblair

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jarrenblair

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@jarrenblair

Image Credits
Pic number 4: @etschindlerphoto Pic number 5: @mollybowmanvisuals