Singer/Songwriter Jeff Eaton with producer, Ken Mary, have created a sound that is best described as soulful rock. Through Jeff's lifetime of playing music he has developed a unique songwriting style that can only be described as "Music to Rock the Soul"

7 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Roots Rock, ROCK: Americana



Details:
It goes like this: you fall in love with music. You listen to the radio like the DJ is pouring the music right into your head. One day you think âHow hard can it be to do this myself?â and you pick up a guitar.

If youâre Jeff Eaton, youâre only nine years old when you get that guitar, and youâre in your first band by the seventh grade.

Jeff grew up in Oregon â âwild, to put it mildlyâ â and stayed wild into adulthood. He partied hard, and music was always there. âWeâd go to the bars, get drunk, go home and get our guitars, go back to the bar and play,â he says of his days in Mississippi.

So when it was time to clean up his life and ditch the drugs and the drinking, music had to go, too. Cleaning up meant leaving his old life: the people, the places he used to hang out, and the music.

âWhen youâre getting away from something, when youâre trying to get to a safe zone, you go as far as you can in the opposite direction,â he says.

It was eight years before Jeff could come back to music without worrying it might pull him back over to the wrong side of the road. When he did, he was tougher and wiser, and had a deep wish to reach people, relate to them and comfort them through music. Deciding that âmusic isnât just a bunch of fun and games,â he teamed up with Top-40 producer Ken Mary (who has worked with Trik Turner, Alice Cooper, The Phunk Junkeez, and LaRue) for his second release, the approachable, thoughtful âWish You Were Here.â

The album is polished, warm and distinctly American: rootsy guitar, soaring harmonies and earnest vocals layered over driving rock. The albumâs candid lyrics and passionate, yearning songs tap into Jeffâs struggle of getting his life back under control: âTheyâre about some of the helplessness and powerlessness I felt when I was trying to walk away from that life,â he says.

Theyâre also intimately connected with his own faith, which gave him the strength he needed to clean up his life.

âI donât want to just preach to the choir,â he says. âI like to write songs you canât pigeonhole, not just praise and worship songs. Thatâs where the subtlety comes in. People can take a lot from the songs â thereâs enough there that when they think about it, they think âHey, he wasnât just talking about my relationship with my girlfriend,â or whatever.â

Ultimately, though, the songs are meant to make a connection.

âPeople get overwhelmed sometimes by an emotion, and they can only feel relieved if they can find music that completely captures it. I know how they feel; Iâve been there.â