Jason Harwell

Singer/songwriters are everywhere these days, but how many of them have competed nationally at Meat Judging and Evaluation? Though one may be tempted to guess none of them, Jason Harwell would be quick to correct you. He says, “I had reached the peak of my athletic abilities – sitting the bench and chasing foul balls in the parking lot – and thought that maybe it was time to seek greener pastures, so to speak.” Growing up on a cattle farm in rural Georgia, he need look no further than his local Future Farmers of America. Soon after, Jason found himself in a giant meat locker in Kansas City placing carcasses in order from best to worst. “It was a wonderful experience. Meat judging isn’t something you letter in, I suppose, but I got to wear a hard hat and miss a week of school. It’s not what most people do in high school, but it seemed to fit me,” Jason says. Doing things differently has been a hallmark of Jason’s life. Now 25, Jason has long since given up the glitz and glamour of meat judging for a career in music, and he continues to take the road less traveled. “I had always dreamed of making music full time,” he says, “but it was a dream that I didn’t expect to happen.” Instead, Jason imagined his future as an art teacher, and if not for fate, Jason would probably be fingerpainting with elementary school students rather than touring the country. A chance encounter at a summer camp where he worked led to Jason’s first national tour - with youth speakers. By the end of the summer of 2001, Jason had sold 2500 copies of Photo/Album, his self-recorded EP and had reordered twice. Today, Jason simultaneously smiles and winces at the thought of his first CD, “I listen to it now and hear my inexperience. But three and half years later I still receive emails from people who still listen to it, which is very encouraging. Touring with speakers is probably not the norm for musicians, but it put me in front of people, and that’s the most important thing.” Over the last few years, being in front of people is something that Jason has become used to. Jason recorded his first full-length album, Building a Better Me, in the fall after his first national tour and in the summer of 2002, Jason once again took the road less traveled for an acoustic-based songwriter: he joined a tour with three hard rock bands on Pillar’s Fireproof Tour. “The first few dates of that tour were something to see – you had all these hard rockers and me. It was awesome watching the crowd’s reaction when I would come on after a band – the look of confusion and disbelief.” Jason somehow found a niche between the Marshalls and Mesas and, according to Steve Nance, owner of Integrity Light and Sound, Jason’s presence “took the tour to the next level.” Jason became a tour favorite and, to date, has sold nearly 5000 copies of Photo/Album and Building a Better Me combined, based solely on live performances and word-of-mouth. Fresh out of graduate school, Jason has finally succumbed to his passion to make music full-time with the release of his new album, Alive in the Fall,. The album, which runs stylistically from Americana/folk to Cake- flavored college rock, is a portrait of a young man’s journey to discover the truth about his faith, his life, and himself. He says, “Over these last few years, I’ve met wonderful people from all walks of life, and we all want the same thing – the truth. Sometimes it’s hard to tell what’s real and what came out of a computer. As a songwriter, I feel it’s my duty to present these songs just as they are in the hope that anyone who listens can find something to relate to. That’s really why I do what I do.”