Today we’d like to introduce you to JR Redford.
Hi JR, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve been a singer/songwriter/blues-rock guitarist since high school. My dad was a guitar player and showed me the ropes and I immediately took to writing. I really couldn’t help it. It was where I really felt like I could express my deepest feelings and thoughts about my experience as a human.
I moved to Nashville in 2009 to go to study music at Belmont and developed a love for all types of jazz and classical music. This really expanded my ear for chords and harmony and more pungent musical flavors. I learned that not everything had to sound “good” to sound good… it’s a delicate balance between the pretty and the ugly, much like life on this planet.
After a couple of years in school, I started making a living playing guitar in the honky-tonks of lower Broadway in downtown Nashville. I have since used the money and experience to make my own original music as an independent artist.
I released my first album as a solo artist in 2020 and am now gearing to put out my second full-length record this summer.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Absolutely not. I have battled extensively with alcoholism and addiction in my own life and profession. It’s just an accepted part of the lifestyle. (Been sober 3+ years now).
Not to mention I’m an independent artist who is 100% self-funded. Nothing has been easy about it but I also wouldn’t trade it for anything. It’s what drives me. I also feel that the world is in need of artists that really put themselves out there and aren’t afraid to speak their truth.
The music business has become a battleground of people just trying to achieve a level of fame with little attention given to the art of putting one’s soul on display in their own unique way. Music is about telling the truth, for me at least.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Well… I am a self-funded independent alt-rock artist. My friends and I make records out of the songs I write. I just recorded my second album which we recorded in a log cabin in the Ozark mountains.
The first album we did in a cabin in Gatlinburg. We like recording in spaces that have never been recorded. Giant wood rooms with high ceilings just have a warm and gorgeous sound. The thing I’m most proud of in truth is nothing more than finishing what we start. Is it perfect? No. Is it going to hit the pop charts? No. But I told the truth and I made music I believe in with people I believe in and saw it through all the way to release into the world. What more could I want? The reward is in the doing, not in the end product.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
Certainly when my father first showed me an E chord on the guitar. Up to that point, I had never seen someone actually play an instrument right in front of me.
I was mesmerized. I didn’t know it yet but that moment changed my life for better or for worse, haha!!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jrredford.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/jrredfordmusic
- Facebook: Facebook.com/jrredfordmusic
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCnDv2cFKSLnNvADsYsrSpFQ
Image Credits
Cameron Flaisch @cameron_flaisch_photography
