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Nominated for Sensored Magazine's 2004 Starving Artist Award and one of America’s most
expressive singer/songwriters, Nashville native Jerry Hager’s musical
influences date back to his early youth in Detroit. His father was a gospel singer from Charleston, WV in the
early 60’s. After
relocating to Michigan, Clifford Hager was accompanied by Jerry on the
road through most of Jerry’s childhood. After a few failed attempts at learning the guitar under
instruction, the young apprentice found that he could learn to play on
his own, by listening instead of just exercising. That is how Jerry Hager plays, writes & produces – by
listening.
Jerry Hager attended The Recording Institute of Detroit in the late 1980's.
There he learned from old school Motown & Holland, Dozier Holland engineers &
producers about audio & music. Soon he was working as an engineer on projects of
George
Clinton,
Martha Reeves, Jad
Fair & Half Japanese.
During that time, Hager was able to experiment with his music as well. He
created & recorded music that he now admits was so over-produced that he lost
control of it. But not long after, Jerry was approached by the music directors
of a B-horror film from Troma Entertainment (Toxic Avenger, etc.) titled
Frostbiter
– Wrath of the Wendigo, which starred Ron Asheton of Iggy & The
Stooges. They bought 5 experimental recordings, which he had created years
before, & contracted Hager to co-write a promotional song for Ron Asheton &
Elvis Hitler. He co-wrote & played Bitchin' Babes with Detroit producer Steve
Quick. Jerry can also be seen in the music video if you don't blink.
Not very long after, Jerry Hager discovered the power of acoustic music. "I
guess that was penance for the Bitchin' Babes thing." Jerry assembled an
acoustic trio in Detroit & performed in Ann Arbor & Lansing. Just before leaving
Michigan, he found himself living on the couch of guitarist, Kevin Killeen, as
most great artists do at some point during their career. Finding an old 8 track
reel to reel in the basement, Jerry recorded what turned out to be Gentle
Man, his first CD. It remains to this day one of Hager's favorite
projects. With its contemporary pop sound, the first track, River Café, was
well received on college radio in Lansing & Detroit. Woods has since been
covered by Boston folk singer, Carl
Cacho. The album's I’ll
Be With You Someday ranked number 3 on the Americana chart mp3.com.
In 1993 Jerry relocated
to Nashville. Concerned
that his music didn’t fit in either a Country or Folk genre, he soon
discovered that his music had been easily welcomed as Singer/Songwriter,
Americana & AAA. Hager
was very well received. He
found that in Nashville he learned a great deal about playing,
performing & most of all, what he wanted out of his own music. So he founded The Union Buffalo, a six-piece band supporting
Jerry’s unique pop-oriented Singer/Songwriter style.
The Union Buffalo found
themselves busy with a faithful following. The show was dynamic & the songs were emotional. But the vortex of other projects drew Jerry back into the studio
as producer & engineer. He had started recording a Union Buffalo project but was
unable to spend much time on it due to the massive amount of time
dedicated to other artists. Hager
worked with many regional artists like Hayseed, The Evinrudes, Joe
Nolan, Tom
Mason & The Boomgates. Then
Jerry found himself playing bass guitar regularly with The Boomgates for
a couple of years.
After the split of The
Boomgates in 1999, Hager finally decided to finish the recording project
that he started in 1994. And
it took another two years to do that. After he was able to assemble songs that were recorded over a
long span of time, Miles From Brushy
was finally released through www.bluebourbon.net. The album’s Sail, Have You Near & Finally
Up each charted in the Americana top 10 on mp3.com.
The final song on the album, I Walk Slow, has been covered
by Hayseed on his most recent release, Home
Grown. Thanks to a
suggestion from Lucinda Williams, Hayseed’s version includes Hager’s
original bed tracks.
Returning to Nashville
from New York in 2003, Jerry Hager has revisited the stage & is
scheduled to appear with The Union Buffalo in support of Miles
From Brushy & to showcase eleven new songs from the forthcoming
album, to be released this Christmas on which pre-production has already
begun. The first releases, Believing &
9
Days, each topped the Americana chart at #1 on AudioStreet.net & #5 on the first day out on mp3.com!
2004 presents a long roster of projects on which Hager is playing &
producing, including Paul Zografi
& Joe
Nolan, with whom he recorded Plain
Jane & co-produced King. Jerry Hager looks forward to a very productive year supporting
Miles
from Brushy & the new project.
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