Jackson Reed

Jackson Reed was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Being inspired by artists like Bruce Springsteen and The Who, Jackson is working to follow in their footsteps by creating commercial, radio-friendly music that can be enjoyed by everyone. In 2019, Jackson’s newest single "Can You Feel the Rock and Roll" received radio play and over 20,000 plays on all platforms. He also embarked on a short tour of the United States, playing in cities like Atlanta and Nashville. In April 2021, he released a new single and video, "The Walk." The song inspired a dance that went viral on social media when influenced Gracie Jade danced on her TikTok page.

For fans who have never heard your music, can you pick three words to describe it?! If three words just aren't enough then tell us more!! Technically four, but Classic Rock and Roll. I'm very inspired by music from the 60s to the 80s, so that's what I sound like.

What is your favorite part about being an artist? Is it songwriting, performing, recording, something else?) Tell us why. I think it's always an amazing feeling when you write a song and it captures something magical, something that makes you go 'this is going to be a hit.' I felt that with my newest song that's out now called "The Walk." Once I had the general idea of the song put together, I was feeling really good about it. I do also enjoy performing live. The thoughts I have about one day being able to perform in stadiums is what keeps me going as a musician.

Can you tell us what being in the recording studio is like for you? This last year was a very interesting experience recording, because it was the most time I've spent in the studio, but with the pandemic it made things a little different (like it has with everything). I record at a studio in my hometown of Calgary called Heavy Heart Sound, which is run by my friend Pat McAuley. The process for my last couple of recordings has been very much a solo effort where I play most of the instruments, but I get help from my fellow musician friends when there's something I for sure can't do. When I was recording The Walk, it was by far the fastest I've worked in the studio because we were about to enter another lockdown here in Calgary, and I had to get the song finished before things got worse. It was the most driven I've been to complete a recording and I think that made the final product my most complete vision of a song yet.

Okay, this a fun question. When you are not doing music, what else do you enjoy doing? Well I do enjoy watching sports. I'm a huge Calgary Flames fan, and I have tickets with the team so I usually watch a lot of hockey during the NHL season (not as much this year since I can't be there in person due to the pandemic, but hopefully that will change next season). Hockey is definitely my favourite sport, and I even play it for fun in normal times.

Who do you admire most in the music scene today and why? Bruce Springsteen. Bruce really set me on the path that I'm on right now. Before I started listening to him, I was really only interested in being the guitar player in a band a la Jimmy Page. But, I soon discovered it was a lot nicer to have your own band where you sing and it's your own thing where you call the shots. When I was trying to find my singing voice, I started getting into Bruce's music and he changed everything for me. I have a deeper voice, so I knew I couldn't sing like Robert Plant or Roger Daltrey, but I could sing like Bruce. Not only that, but his image, and his electrifying performance skills gave me a better idea of how I could present myself as an artist. He gave me the confidence to do what I'm doing now. I would have never performed a song on stage without a guitar in my hands if it wasn't for him. Bruce is definitely at the top of the list of artists who have had a profound impact on me, inspiring me both musically and as a person. I hope to meet him one day.

Can you tell us what song you've written that is the most emotional and describe the meaning behind it? I have a song that I recorded a couple of years ago called "Run Like The Wind," I think that was one of my first attempts at writing a song with more serious subject matter. It's about a guy who's trying to get out of his falling-apart town to make a better life for himself. The song's never been released, but I may come back to it one day. I have a lot of emotional songs in my idea bank so it's definitely an area I want to explore more in the future.

Are you working on any new material right now or what's in the works for the upcoming year? As I mentioned earlier, my newest single The Walk is out now on all platforms. We've really gone all out on promoting it. We made a cool music video that you can check out on YouTube:

We've also done some things on TikTok. I wrote the song with a dance in mind, and with how big TikTok is these days, I figured it would be the perfect place to promote the song. I teamed up with a TikToker in Calgary named Gracie Jade, and she created a dance for The Walk. I reposted her video of the dance on my account (@jacksonreedofficial), and it got over 100,000 plays which is super awesome. If you're into TikTok dancing, learn the dance and post it with #thewalkchallenge and #dothewalk, I'd love to see what you come up with. I'm also looking into getting some studio and touring jobs as a guitarist, so hopefully once things get back to normal those opportunities will start to come up. Tell us where fans can access your music.

Stream on Spotify