Country Music Artist - J D Myers
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Bio:
Raised near the Appalachian Trail in southwestern Virginia, JD Myers spent his youth watching the truckers plow through town on their way to anywhere else. Troutville had three traffic lights and a Waffle House and Myers knew that like the big rigs, he was headed for someplace bigger.
It all began August 16, 1977, the day Elvis Presley died.
Myers was 3, but the memory is still vivid for him today. His father, then a truck driver for Pepsi-Cola, had just come home from work and was reclining in his favorite chair. His mom was doing laundry. Network newscasters kept interrupting the TV: The King was dead.
"I was a little guy and my parents had this big console TV and I remember watching it all night and I knew this was something huge," Myers says, "I remember feeling the despair. I was hurt by it. It was all I heard for weeks and it was my first memory of Elvis. His death was the beginning of music for me. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't be doing this."
His mom had a scratchy copy of "Blue Hawaii" and he played the grooves out of it. She bought him a box set of Elvis music, and Myers memorized every note. She bought him a left-handed guitar and paid for lessons.
"They never taught me what I wanted to know," Myers says. "I wanted to play 'That's All Right Mama' and they were more concerned with teaching me to read music."
Later a Cherokee truck driver- who once played a date with Johnny Cash and was Myers' personal hero- taught the then 14-year old a few chords on that guitar.
Reticent offstage, Myers learned by watching the best.
"Waylon Jennings, Buddy Holly, Rick Nelson, Jerry Lee Lewis, Conway Twitty, Buck Owens, Dwight Yoakam and Steve Earle were influences on me," says Myers.
At one talent show Myers won 0 and a recording session. What he ended up with was a bogus road trip to Nashville and enough broken promises to jade even a 16-year-old. The trip wasn't a total loss. By chance, Myers met a future music row executive on a stairwell in a Nashville office building. The pair bonded over their mutual love of rockabilly. Impressed by the youngster's raw unpolished talent and drive, he promised to help.
Several years later, that relationship secured JD a songwriting deal with the prestigious publisher Warner Chappell Music. At the age of 19, he was recording demos and teaming up with some of Nashville's best writers.
"Over the course of two years I started to learn the craft of songwriting and I'm still learning today." Myers explains.
JD quickly developed a style all his own and caught the ears of Asylum Records A&R representative Kara Rosen at a showcase for another record label, and was signed to Asylum within a week. Two years later Asylum released the video, "When I Think About You" to CMT. It became one of the most played music videos of 1997. One year and another single later, JD left the Asylum Records roster. "We didn't see eye to eye on anything really." Myers explains. "I felt and still feel that an artist should have more control over his music. After all, it is their name, voice, songs, image, and reputation that are on the line."
Myers states he learned some important lessons during that time in his life. "It's the Nashville way. You play their game or you don't play. I'm not the first to learn that the hard way and I sure won't be the last. Waylon Jennings once told me that above everything else, I have to be true to myself. I've never forgotten that." Today, JD continues to take his hero's advice. "It may take a little longer doing it my way, trying to do my own thing, but I'll have no regrets."
We believe once you've heard JD Myers you'll be a believer too. His music is, well, "Like A Train".
In 1997, JD Myers prepared for the release of his Asylum Records album, "Like A Train". He had been signed to the Nashville label for two years with little excitement from their promotion team. "They felt that it would be hard to get me on country radio because I was so different from what was going on", says Myers. It turns out they were right. The first single, "When I Think About You" failed to get anything above regional radio play. It did however turn heads on CMT as the video sailed into heavy rotation. "That told me that the people were ready for the music. I just needed my record label to convince radio." recalls JD.
The album's release date was pushed back to 1998 and another single, "Wishin' And Waitin'" was picked to have its chance with country radio. Although it did somewhat better it still didn't gather national exposure. It was then that JD made a bold move. He asked out of his record deal. Myers states, "A lot of people thought I was crazy, but I knew that there was no future at Asylum Records for an artist like me. I needed a label that would embrace my creativity and fight for me". It was at this point that JD decided to re-evaluate himself and the industry. Country music was declining after the big boom of the early 1990's and Myers felt that he needed to be better and wait for a better day to try again.
He went back to the basics that made him love music in the first place. For the next several years he continued to write songs and play clubs, VFW's, Moose Lodges, and anywhere else country music was welcome. Then, in early 2003 he received a call from his former publishing company, Warner Chappell Music. In an unheard of act of generosity or possible guilt he was told they were giving him the publishing rights to all of his songs and ownership of all of his recordings. "It was such a gift." says Myers. It was at this point he set out to compile his own independent album. JD enlisted the help of Grammy Award winning engineer, musician, and producer Rusty McFarland. McFarland had produced most of the Warner Chappell recordings over the years and was eager to be able to finally finish what they had started. '"Rusty's from Memphis, so he really understands American roots music and how to make a great record with a lot of soul." Myers muses. Together, the two combed through almost 80 recordings deciding what would become the record. They settled on 14 songs. "We really worked hard to make sure every aspect of what I can do is represented." explains Myers.
"Hard Times" is a thoroughly impressive collection that finds the Virginia native crafting a gritty fusion of rockabilly, west-coast country, the outlaw sound and rock and roll blues. Myers co-wrote 10 of the cuts on the album and played guitar on 11. Although it was intended to be an independent release, it has now gathered major label attention. "I put my heart and soul into this album and I'm just glad that it is being noticed." says Myers. The new album's title is a declaration of what JD has experienced. "I moved to Nashville 10 years ago with the notion that it would be easy. For awhile it seemed that way because I achieved so much in a short amount of time. Now I know better. When I sing about hard times I mean it because I've lived them. My family and faith have truly gotten me through." says Myers. "Waylon Jennings once told me that above everything else, I have to be true to myself. I've never forgotten that. It may take a little longer doing it my way, trying to do my own thing, but I'll have no regrets." © 2006 JD MYERS
"Hard Times" "Like A Train"
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