Artist: JT Hodges
Album: JT Hodges
Bitrate: 262kbps avg
Quality: EAC Secure Mode / LAME 3.98.4 / -V0 / 44.100Khz
Label: Show Dog / Universal Music
Genre: Country
Size: 68.25 megs
PlayTime: 0h 34min 31sec total
Rip Date: 2012-08-22
Store Date: 2012-08-21
Track List:
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01. Rather Be Wrong Than Lonely 3:30
02. Sleepy Little Town 3:34
03. Hunt You Down 3:29
04. Give It One More Night 3:39
05. When I Stop Crying 4:05
06. Goodbyes Made You Mine 2:51
07. Leaving Me Later 3:33
08. Right About Now 3:20
09. Rhythm Of The Radio 3:14
10. Green Eyes Red Sunglasses 3:16
Release Notes:
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For his first single, JT Hodges has come out of the gate with a song about
hunting. It does not involve bird calls or camouflage, but rather the most
universal pursuit known to man. In a rollicking song that recalls a hot night in
Memphis, Hodges sings: She said, Look me up when you get back to town. His
answer: Look you up? I said. Hell, I m gonna hunt you down! Catch-and-release
never sounded so steamy.
Country fans are wanting to hunt Hodges down, too, after getting a listen to
this undeniable summer hit single. Besides Hunt You Down, there s plenty more to
be pursued in JT Hodges, the Texas newcomer s alternately tender and raucous
Show Dog - Universal Music debut. The singer/songwriter worked with a trio of
top producers Mark Wright, Don Cook, and Mark Collie who collaborated for the
first time to bring their find to the public. Those aren t the only Nashville
names putting their imprint on this freshman effort: Hodges co-writers include
top veterans like Rivers Rutherford and Chris Stapleton. Vince Gill even adds
his harmony vocal and a guitar solo to one ballad. What these insiders already
know, fans are quickly finding out: Behind those baby blue eyes lies the
seasoned soul of a true country artist.
JT was raised in a recording studio... literally. My family started Fort Worth s
first multi-track recording studio, Hodges explains, referring to Buffalo Sound
Studios, a facility that played host to artists as disparate as T Bone Burnett
and Michael Bolton. Were the kids allowed to hang around? Oh, it was part of our
chores! he laughs. On weekends when there were sessions, Pops would make us
vacuum and clean the bathrooms. Once we were done, my brother and I would be so
excited to go into my dad s audio library and listen to record after record, on
vinyl or quarter-inch tapes. That was the environment that I grew up in,
crawling around under the console starting at 8 months old.
Hodges parents weren t just studio owners: They had their own band. My mom had a
country record deal with MCA Nashville but she didn t want to leave us kids and
ended up choosing motherhood. His folks had met under professional musical
circumstances. Dad studied concert piano at Juilliard and then went to the
University of North Texas to get his masters degree in jazz composition. He also
had a country covers band to help pay his way through grad school, and when he
was 27, a 17-year-old girl drove up to audition. She got the gig and got the guy
and they both got a boy who shared their consuming love of all kinds of music.
Country is the first thing I ever remember hearing. My grandmother loved Conway
Twitty and we used to listen to him all the time. His parents, meanwhile, had a
fixation on the early rock of Elvis, Jerry Lee, and Buddy Holly, whose influence
can certainly be felt in some of the new album s original songs, like Rather Be
Wrong Than Lonely.
There was a post-college detour to L.A., after Hodges graduated from Texas
Christian University. He followed some buddies out to the west coast for a
couple years, hitting the coffeehouse circuit to test out the material he was
writing. That s where he met his future wife, an expat from Missouri, who had
moved out to L.A.
Hodges and his wife soon migrated to the Music Row songbelt, and in the spring
of 2010, he landed a record deal. Mark Collie brought me in and introduced me to
all the songwriters in this town. He introduced me to Don Cook, who was
responsible for a lot of Brooks & Dunn hits. Together they brought me to Mark
Wright, and the three of them agreed to co-produce me. Don and Mark Wright had
been friends for a long time but I was the first artist they d ever worked on
together and for that, I am truly honored.