Jason Elliott is a singer-songwriter/guitarist with a degree in music education who originally learned to play the guitar by listening to Eric Clapton CDs. It probably helped that his insightful grandfather gave Jason his first electric guitar, bought at a yard sale, when he was only six and he started messing around with songs.
Another early sign that Jason might have a musical gift came one day when his aunt was playing piano. Jason sat and watched. When she stopped and left the room for a few minutes, Jason got up and effortlessly repeated what she had played, never having sat at a piano before.
His father played classical guitar as a hobby. But even he didnt help him much, handing his young son a few chord charts to give him a jump start, leaving the rest up to him and Eric Clapton.
Originally from the small town of Catawba, North Carolina, Jason moved to Nashville in 2002 to make his musical transition from vocalist and lead guitarist (for his college band), to an accomplished performer of his own material in Nashville bars and clubs. He switched to acoustic guitar to give his songs the true test.
Jason says, My ambition is to create music that draws out emotions in people and allows them to truly feel something real.
I want to reach people across all age ranges, from 6 to 60. He cites Sting as his greatest musical role model.
I eat, sleep, and breathe music; if I didnt have it, I wouldnt exist. Its such a big part of me, its an addiction. Jason composes every day. He can write a song in just a couple of hours once he comes up with a riff. I have about 80 songs that I regularly use and feel good about.
I dont fit in anyones box; my friends think Im a bit of a freak I'm incredibly focused. When I go into the studio to record my songs, I am so into what I'm doing. I have been staring down my ambition for the last six years, doing whatever it takes to get there.
