Jon Yeager: The Other Nashville Cat
This week, my Wayward Son column focuses on Ben Grimes, a Kansas City musician returning home to play a show after having moved to Nashville a year ago. The former Golden Republic frontman is bringing his newish project, Soft Reeds, to the Record Bar on Wednesday, November 26 (also on the bill: Hidden Pictures).
Grimes is not alone in this gig, however. Joining him on stage that night is Jon Yeager (that's him on the right lookin' all gypsylike), who moved to Nashville this past August, both to make music with Grimes and because he needed a change of scene. You should remember Yeager both for his solo work and for his membership in the Daybirds in the late '90s, early '00s. In fact, if you made a habit out of going to shows anytime over the past ten years, chances are you saw, met, knew and possibly went home with Jon a few times. He was ubiq...ubiqt...omnipresent basically up until his move.
How's the magical genie of sound been treating Yeager since he moved? Find out after the jump.
"Ben and I have been talking about playing together forever," Yeager told me when I reached him on the phone this past Saturday. As was often the case when he lived here, Yeager was at a coffee shop (search result: A).
Yeager says Grimes called him to collaborate on Soft Reeds in a "pseudo-producer" capacity.
"Creatively, we are getting so much on the same page, and a best friendship is reemerging from years ago," Yeager says.
Both Yeager and Grimes are songwriters of the ambitious, Beatles school of studio acrobatics and layered writing and recording. While Grimes' chief influences are from the '70s British glam-rock era -- Briano Eno, David Bowie, T. Rex -- Yeager's style owes more to the hooky pop tradition, from McCartney to modern acts like Pete Yorn and Sam Roberts.
Yeager says that Grimes knew the difference in their styles (experimental vs. melodic) and that Grimes needed a little help getting some songs to a finished state. "He's helping me think outside of my box, and I'm helping him make decisions quicker."
With the help of some Nashville musicians, the two are working on a Soft Reeds release for early next year. On his own, Yeager is preparing a solo EP for release around year's end on Kansas City's Minnow Records. It may have this Memphis-horny humdinger on it:
Jon Yeager - "Great Sound" (rough mix)
Much as Grimes did when I talked to him for my column, Yeager describes Nashville as a place that inspires musical creativity while at the same time causes distaste for the industry. "Everybody's dad signed Journey -- everybody's got some story like that," Grimes told me. In addition to being the capital of mainstream country, Nashville is a songwriters' town, with publishing companies and open mics galore. Yeager says that sometime in the past a bunch of people got their break in Nashville, and people are still moving there with the same hopes today.
"I don't like being around around a thousand people who are waiting for their big break," Yeager says.
Still, both said they were amazed at how much music they began writing upon moving to Nashville. "It's creatively bringing a lot out of me," Yeager says, "I got down here and wrote two albums' worth of songs."
Additionally, Grimes has begun working with a startup tour-support company, serving traveling bands. The two talk of building a "collective" out there in TN, i.e., a group of musicians who collaborate on each others' releases and also put out their own stuff.
But before ANY MORE Kansas City musicians leave town to go to Nashville, they must first clear it with the staff of The Pitch.
Which means, Yeager and Grimes, you're on your own. Good luck.
Jon Yeager plays a solo acoustic show (Nashville style) the night before the Soft Reeds show: Tuesday, November 25, at JP Wine Bar.
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