At 15 years old, Jackson became the youngest male artist ever to sign a publishing deal with Warner/Chappell Music Nashville. He is a great storyteller, so during the show, you’ll hear stories about why he is the “luckiest” country artists in new country today. He also shares the touching and funny story behind his latest release, “I Love You Mom” before he performs the song acoustically.
Sue Bonzell: He has written music with Devin Dawson and Jimmy Allen and at 15 years old, got a publishing deal with Warner Chapel Music. That is amazing. It is Jackson Nance, is in the studio. Jackson, how are you?
Jackson Nance: I’m good. Thank you for having me.
Sue Bonzell: I am so excited that you were here. Now, I got to hear about this. 15 years old, you’re coming to Nashville, you’re writing songs, you get a publishing deal. Let’s hear this story. This is incredible.
Jackson Nance: Well, so I moved to Nashville in 2008, from South Mississippi, a little town called Hattiesburg, and my parents were always musical. I used to sing The Eagles with my mom in the car.
Sue Bonzell: Of course.
Jackson Nance: Stuff like that. I even got a tattoo applied.
Sue Bonzell: Oh.
Jackson Nance: I moved here in 2008. I started going to school, coming from South Mississippi, it’s baseball and football. You don’t really know much about entertainment. But anyway, I started figuring out that I had some musical talent and I was playing BB Kings and [inaudible 00:00:58] but I was too young to get in.
Sue Bonzell: Of course.
Jackson Nance: So I had a guitar player come and sit out on the patio with me so I could play.
Sue Bonzell: Oh, funny.
Jackson Nance: And then when I was 12, I told my parents that I wanted to start doing online school, so I could get on with my career.
Sue Bonzell: Oh, okay.
Jackson Nance: And they were really cool about it. They said, okay.
Sue Bonzell: Nice.
Jackson Nance: And so I got a guitar, I started listening to the Beatles and I started playing eight hours a day.
Sue Bonzell: Really?
Jackson Nance: For like three years, yeah. I was writing, so I started writing and playing guitar when I was 12. And then when I was 13, I played at this place called Puckett’s in Leipers Fork. You should go if you haven’t been.
Sue Bonzell: Okay.
Jackson Nance: And repping them. And this guy saw me playing named Aubrey Preston and his family started Healthcare Centers of America, so very wealthy.
Sue Bonzell: Okay.
Jackson Nance: Very nice guy, and he had a personal favor owed to Scott Hendricks.
Sue Bonzell: Okay.
Jackson Nance: Because he had helped him with some real estate stuff prior or whatever it was. And when I was 13, I walked into Scott’s office and Scott looks at me and says, “You’re a great singer. Well, we’ve got a million great singers in Nashville. You need to be an artist.” And so for the next two years, he mentored me, directed me, introduced me to people. And then when I was 15, we had a meeting with my parents, him and my lawyer.
Sue Bonzell: I love it how you’re 15, and he’s like, “And my lawyer.”
Speaker 3: Oh, I love that.
Jackson Nance: Dude, it was so it was so weird to me, when you talk about like I was telling my friends about this and they’re like, “Oh cool. What are you doing Friday?” You know what I mean? It’s like that type of thing. But I had a meeting with Scott and again, when I was 15 after continuous updates and stuff like that over the years. And he said, “If you’re going to get a pub deal, you need to talk to Ben Vaughn.” Naturally because he’s in the same building literally, and in the same company, it’d just be a better situation for everyone. And I’d probably written five songs at the time, and so I sat down in Ben’s office and the whole staff of Warner sat on the couch. And I played a mixture of the four half ass songs that I’d written, four or five and a whole bunch of Muscle Shoal songs, blues songs.
Sue Bonzell: Nice.
Jackson Nance: Told them basically, I had a little Ted talk about music history with them and I think they were just, they thought it was cool because I was so young. But I got a call a week later saying they wanted to work together, and then six months of going back and forth.
Sue Bonzell: Of course. But wow, I mean…
Jackson Nance: It was fun though, it was cool.
Sue Bonzell: I mean, that’s really cool.
Jackson Nance: That’s really cool.
Sue Bonzell: So I mean that young age and to know at 12 years old, “Okay, I want to switch up my whole schooling, do this whole thing.” I mean, I just think that is incredible. You obviously have a gift.
Jackson Nance: I’ve been very blessed for sure.
Sue Bonzell: Yes.
Jackson Nance: Super blessed.
Sue Bonzell: Now speaking of Muscles Shoals and Alabama, now you got to do some kind of a song for Alabama?
Jackson Nance: Yeah. So one of my-
Sue Bonzell: Not the band.
Jackson Nance: No, not the band.
Sue Bonzell: The state.
Jackson Nance: Not the band. So one of my friends, her name is Debbie Wilson and I don’t know the terminology of all this, but she did something with the state for the marketing and tourism. And so the guys in Muscle Shoals, they’re a core group of musicians or were back in the day, they were kind of like the wrecking crew or the Nashville guys, whatever. Artists would come down, like Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett, The Stones, different people would come down and record in this area with these guys and get absolute gold. You know what I’m saying? And so in Sweet Home Alabama, in Muscle Shoals, they’ve got the Swampers. That was their name, is they called them the Swampers and I was sitting down with my buddy who was actually the owner of Pucketts at the time, he sold it, made some good money, but I was sitting down with him and a friend of mine named Eddie Wilson. And we got approached about that idea of the state needing some more music for tourism, things like that.
Sue Bonzell: Okay.
Jackson Nance: And we wrote a song called, “It’s a swamp thing.”
Sue Bonzell: Ah, okay. That’s cool, I like that.
Jackson Nance: Yeah. So it mentions, like you heard about the Detroit Motown, Memphis Stax, Delta rhythms on the Mississippi river, it mentions a lot of the studios.
Sue Bonzell: Wow.
Jackson Nance: And the places where music was really popping off.
Sue Bonzell: That’s cool. I mean, you’re getting gigs and all these things.
Jackson Nance: I know, it was cool.
Sue Bonzell: So, that’s the state of Alabama, but you also have a connection to Alabama, the band.
Jackson Nance: So another weird thing, man. So like I said, I have this, I don’t know if it’s dumb luck. I definitely believe in God, so I think it’s, I’m blessed.
Sue Bonzell: Nice.
Jackson Nance: So, I was at a studio when I was 10 years old in Nashville, I couldn’t even tell you what it was. And when you’re that young, I got kind of thrown into the industry at such a young age. I didn’t really process the people around me and the magnitude of what they did, who they were.
Sue Bonzell: Right.
Jackson Nance: And I was in the studio and I was like wandering down the hall or whatever, and I saw this guy sitting there playing guitar and I just walked up to him and started talking. It was Randy Owen, the lead singer of Alabama. And at this point, I didn’t really know much about who he was. But my mom walks over and she’s like, “Oh my God.” Because she waited in line at 14 years old for him to kiss her on the cheek. You know what I’m saying? And I started talking to him, I asked him what he was playing. He was playing a little song he wrote and he asked me if I sang or anything and I sang for him. And then he invited me to his Fadamonium in Fort Payne. So I ended up doing that like two years in a row, or three years in a row.
Sue Bonzell: I mean, you really do have the luck.
Jackson Nance: It’s crazy.
Sue Bonzell: Now, you also had an interaction with Toby Mac. Was that in an ice cream parlor or something like that, did I hear?
Jackson Nance: Okay, so we’re going deep, okay. We’re good, okay. So let me tell you this. So I just got back from a Warner Christmas party. So I was dressed real good.
Sue Bonzell: Decked out.
Jackson Nance: I was looking good. And so I’ve grown up in Franklin since we moved and hung out there every Friday night, Saturday night, whatever. And so I met up with my friend in downtown Franklin and I’m wearing all this stuff. So I didn’t at the time, I didn’t know much about Christian music other than like Kirk Franklin and stuff like that. But I was with my friend, we were walking past Franklin theater, headed towards sweet CCS. And we saw this guy walking on the other side of the street and he’s like, “Oh my God, dude, that’s Toby Mac.” And I was like, “Who’s Toby Mac?” I didn’t know who it was. If Toby sees this, he’s probably going to laugh. But so I didn’t know who it was, and literally this is just coincidence okay? So he’s a huge Christian singer, this and that. And I’m like, “Oh, that’s cool.” And so we walk to Sweet CCS and the door’s over here, I got my back to the door and I’m sitting there. And I feel somebody grab my shoulder and say, “What you looking so sharp for?” Thank God my friend told me who it was 10 minutes apart, because I turned around. I said, Toby Mac.” I was like, “What’s up man?”
Sue Bonzell: And now you’re like an expert.
Jackson Nance: Yeah, I was definitely BSing, you know? We ended up talking or whatever and he asked me, why I was so dressed up? And I said, “Well, I actually just got back from a Warner Christmas party.” And he was like, “Oh, like Warner Brothers?” I was like, “Yeah.” He’s like, “Are you a singer, an artist?” And I said, “Yeah, do you want to hear something?”
Sue Bonzell: Nice.
Jackson Nance: And so I pulled out my notes, I save all my audio recordings to my notes and I pulled it out and played it for him, and he listened to it. And he was just like doing this, and he was like, “I’m going to give you my number. I want you to come into the studio with me.” And I think it was David Garcia. And he’s awesome too. And people say things all the time, people make promises in this. But two weeks later, I was sitting downstairs, playing Xbox or whatever. And I felt my phone lighten up. And I looked at it while I’m playing or whatever, because I’m in the middle of it, and I was like, “What? Mom! Mom, Toby Mac’s calling me.” And I answer, and he’s like, “Hey Jackson, I’d like you to come to the studio next week to sing backgrounds on my next single.”
Sue Bonzell: Okay.
Jackson Nance: And keep in mind, he asked me if I’d done that before. I don’t think of it as being dishonest, I think of it more as, you got to sell yourself.
Sue Bonzell: Absolutely.
Jackson Nance: So I’m like, “Yeah man, I’ve crushed this. We’ll do it, it’s going to be a good time.”
Sue Bonzell: Nice.
Jackson Nance: And so I show up to the studio and I get done, it takes about 35 minutes or so for the backgrounds or whatever. And I get done, he’s like, “Man, that was really fast, great job.” And I was like, “Man, thank you so much for having me, this was my first time doing this.” And he was like, “Wait, what?” And I was like, “Yeah man, I really appreciate you though.”
Sue Bonzell: And he’s like, “Oh what?”
Jackson Nance: Yeah. And from then on, we’ve maintained a relationship, I’ve sent him records that I’ve made and stuff like that. And he’s always super generous with his input. And then he had a show at the Bridgestone Arena a few years ago and he sent me two tickets, front row.
Sue Bonzell: Nice. I love that.
Jackson Nance: And it was cool because on the backgrounds of it’s the” I see you in everything, all day.” It’s that song, and so with a lot of the pop shows or hip hop centric sounds, they have tracks as well.
Sue Bonzell: Okay.
Jackson Nance: And so I’m sitting there in Bridgestone Arena, hearing my voice being piped in the speakers. And I’m with my friend and I’m like, “Yes!” It’s so cool.
Sue Bonzell: That is amazing. I love the luck, I love the luck.
Jackson Nance: It’s crazy.
Sue Bonzell: But it’s not just luck, obviously. You’ve got the chops to back it up.
Jackson Nance: Well, I appreciate it, yeah.
Sue Bonzell: So now you have a new song called, “I love you, mom” that you released, that was right around mother’s day. And I know there’s a really good story to this song, that I think you guys will appreciate. Tell us the story about writing “I love you, mom.”
Jackson Nance: Okay, I got you. So my mom’s birthday is November 6th and she loves the Eagles. Going to talk a lot about the Eagles, because I love the Eagles too, but she loves the Eagles and she went to Seattle. My dad got her tickets to the show in Seattle.
Sue Bonzell: Oh nice.
Jackson Nance: On November 6th and birthdays and holidays, things like that. Mother’s day, huge things at our house. We always get cards, always get gifts, always spend time together.
Sue Bonzell: Right.
Jackson Nance: For whatever reason, I assumed that since she was out of town, I did not have to get her a birthday card or a gift, which I was wrong.
Sue Bonzell: Wow, what a lesson that one was.
Jackson Nance: And so we’re all at my house a few days after she gets back and me and my dad, we’re super honest with each other, super brutally, we talk to each other just straight, shoot it straight. That’s how he is. So I’m sitting where you are, my girlfriend’s sitting where I am. Dad’s sitting in a recliner over here and mom’s sitting on the couch and we’re all laughing and hanging out and dad texts me, so no one else knows. He’s like, “You should be ashamed of yourself for not getting your mom something.” I was trying to explain it on text, I didn’t know. I didn’t know what we were doing if you all were getting stuff. And he was like, that was pretty crappy.
And so we’re all sitting in there and I’m like, Hey, I got to go to my room real quick. So I walked back there and as a writer, a big part of co-writing is, so you don’t have to bang your head against a wall for three hours trying to come up with one line. It’s like when you have more people, you get inspired and you inspire each other. Well, this song kind of happened like no other song I’ve ever written. And I’m not saying that just because I’m putting it out, it was really weird. So I went back there, 20 minutes pass, I’m like, “Hey dad, come here real quick, I got to tell you something.” And so he comes back, I play the first verse and chorus of, “I love you mom.” He’s like, “Shit, dude. That’s amazing.” I was like, “You think she’ll like it?” And he was like, “Yeah, I think she’ll like it.”
Sue Bonzell: Yes.
Jackson Nance: And so the next 10, 15 minutes I wrote the second verse and I went in there and played it. It took me three times to play it. The first time I tried to play it, she’s looking at me starting to just cry her eyes out and I start tearing up and then I’m like, dang it and I stop. I’m like, “If you’re going to hear it, you got to hear it.” I tried it a second time, same thing happened. And then the third time I played it through it and she loved it. And then dad was pissed, naturally because I was the one that was late and then I won the prize, I got the best gift.
Sue Bonzell: That is such a good story, and it’s so true, because I think that I forgot my mother’s birthday one time in my life and I will tell you right now, I will never, ever forget that. Ever again.
Jackson Nance: Absolutely.
Sue Bonzell: And that really is the best gift. I mean I’m a mom too, and it’s like, “If one of my kids did something like that.” Yeah, you would win the prize on that one, for sure.
Jackson Nance: I appreciate that.
Sue Bonzell: So I’m excited for your new song.
Jackson Nance: Yeah.
Sue Bonzell: It’s fantastic, I want to know a little bit about writing with Jimmy Allen. I love Jimmy Allen, I think he’s amazing.
Jackson Nance: He’s great.
Sue Bonzell: So, how did that all come about?
Jackson Nance: Well, it was so long ago, but from what I remember, I was with Warner. Warner was setting me up sessions and I think I was 16 or so.
Sue Bonzell: Okay.
Jackson Nance: And we were writing with him and this other guy and I get there, I think it was centered around Jimmy, prior to us setting up the write. We were coming in to write for Jimmy.
Sue Bonzell: Nice.
Jackson Nance: And so at that time, we just hung out for four hours, we ate Jimmy John’s and made some music. And it was funny because, I don’t know if he was signed at the time, and so I would still listen to the audio recording though afterwards thinking this is pretty sick, this is cool. This guy’s got a great voice.
Sue Bonzell: Yes.
Jackson Nance: And then he came out with the, “When you smile I see the sun.” When he came out with that, I was like, “Wait.” I looked at my contacts, I was like, “I know that guy.”
Sue Bonzell: I know that guy.
Jackson Nance: I know that guy, that’s crazy. It’s crazy, because Nashville’s such a tight knit community.
Sue Bonzell: Yeah.
Jackson Nance: And there’s so many talented people here, I was blessed enough to be at Warner and meet a lot of them. So there’s been times I’ll be listening to a Morgan Wallen song and I’ll look at the writers and be like, “Wait, I used to write with that guy.”
Sue Bonzell: Right, it’s like everybody’s connected.
Jackson Nance: It’s really weird stuff, I’m a diehard fan of some of Morgan Wallen songs. And then when I look at the credits, because I’m all about that, seeing who wrote it, when I look at the credits, I’m like, “No way.”
Sue Bonzell: That’s so cool.
Jackson Nance: And at the same time, great experience, but sometimes I wish that I had the mindset I have now, at 15. So I could have really understood, because I didn’t understand, what it meant to be signed on Warner. Obviously, a lot of great things came of it and I’m eternally grateful to Scott and Ben, they’re amazing people, but I feel like I wish I would’ve been a little bit more cognitive.
Sue Bonzell: But you know what? I think you’re doing great. You’re doing great here, seriously.
Jackson Nance: Trying to.
Sue Bonzell: Now I’m going to ask you one little question before we’re going to have you actually play a song, so y’all don’t want to go anywhere.
Jackson Nance: Absolutely.
Sue Bonzell: And of course, we’re going to play my famous game also. So we’ve got that coming up too. So I want to know, what is your feeling about the power of country music? What would you have to say about the power of country music?
Jackson Nance: Well, I’ll tell you this. My girlfriend is from New Jersey and I love cities. I love big cities, but I feel like in cities, it’s very work centric, it’s like things move so fast. It’s hard to really slow down and enjoy things and not to bash any other place. One thing about the south, Tennessee, Mississippi specifically, Alabama, all those places, Georgia. You look at certain cultures from other places, I think that a big part of American culture, even as a whole, is Southern culture. Because it’s very established, it’s like hunting, fishing, manners, being respectful, things like that.
Sue Bonzell: Yes sir.
Jackson Nance: And also I feel like too, as a musician, the way I was raised as well, I was raised in south Mississippi and Nashville. So this is what I know.
Sue Bonzell: Yeah.
Jackson Nance: But another thing as a musician too I find, that rock music, like what journey would’ve been in the eighties, what the Eagles were. Foreigner, whatever it is, there’s really not a market on the radio for that anymore, and where you hear those sounds and that instrumentation and whatnot, is on country radio.
Sue Bonzell: Yep.
Jackson Nance: You see Jason Aldean’s band, badass rock guys.
Sue Bonzell: Right.
Jackson Nance: Or you see Hardy getting on stage and you think you’re at a rock concert or Keith urban, you know what I mean?
Sue Bonzell: Definitely.
Jackson Nance: So I think that Country, I feel like it’s really good at blending other things too. You know what I mean?
Sue Bonzell: Yeah.
Jackson Nance: That, and I just like the concepts. One thing, I love pop music, I love everything. But if I want to sit down and get inspired or if I’m sad, and I want to wallow in my sadness a little bit, Country music is the lyricism, is just so profound. If you want to talk about something, you write country music.
Sue Bonzell: Absolutely.
Jackson Nance: In my mind, now I respect a lot of other artists that don’t do country music, but for me, that’s what it is.
Sue Bonzell: I love that answer. Well, are you ready to play a song for us?
Jackson Nance: I’m ready.
Sue Bonzell: Okay. Well, when we come back, Jackson Nance is going to play a song for us.
Jackson Nance: Yes, ma’am.
What’s up you guys? I’m Jackson Nance and I’m playing my new single called, “I love you mom.” Out now, go listen to it.
[00:18:44] (Singing)
Sue Bonzell: All right Jackson Nance, his new song “I love you, mom.” That was awesome.
Jackson Nance: Thank you.
Sue Bonzell: And I love the story behind it, it is fantastic. Now, noticed you’re a lefthanded guitar player.
Jackson Nance: Yeah. Proudly, but inconveniently. Yeah, I am.
Sue Bonzell: But you can also play a right-handed guitar?
Jackson Nance: Yeah, yeah.
Sue Bonzell: Upside down?
Jackson Nance: I can, but I can’t do it to the same degree.
Sue Bonzell: Okay.
Jackson Nance: But it’s a party trick, it’s fun.
Sue Bonzell: Oh yeah, totally.
Jackson Nance: Or, I’ve recorded solos in the studio upside down, things like that. But if I can, I want to play left handed guitar.
Sue Bonzell: Okay, all right. Fair enough, fair enough. You heard it here first. Okay, are you ready to play a little game?
Jackson Nance: Yes ma’am.
Sue Bonzell: Okay.
Jackson Nance: I just want you to know though, that I’m pretty competitive, so.
Sue Bonzell: Oh, okay.
Jackson Nance: If I don’t win, I’m going to be pretty pissed.
Sue Bonzell: Well you know what? The beauty of this game is, everybody wins.
Jackson Nance: Okay. That’s cool.
Sue Bonzell: So instead of truth or dare, we play truth or truth.
Jackson Nance: Let’s do it.
Sue Bonzell: Okay, all right. So I’ve got some little questions in here, you get to pick your own questions.
Jackson Nance: Okay.
Sue Bonzell: You can read it out loud and then answer the question for us.
Jackson Nance: Let’s see, here we go. What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done at work? Well, I’ve never had a real job. I’ve only ever done music.
Sue Bonzell: That is beautiful.
Jackson Nance: I’ll tell you something funny.
Sue Bonzell: Okay.
Jackson Nance: This is funny. Bev knows this story, so I was playing when I was a kid, so don’t attack me, when I was a kid, don’t judge me. So I was probably 13, I was playing at Centennial Park or by Bicentennial Park or whatever it is. And I was there, it was this event to raise awareness for child trafficking and putting a stop to that.
Sue Bonzell: Right.
Jackson Nance: And so I’m 13 or so, and I get up on stage, never breaking my smile in my character, I’m excited to be there. I’m like, “Guys, I’m so excited to be here to support child trafficking.” And everybody started laughing and I’m like,”Oh, they’re just in a good mood today.” Because I didn’t realize what I said.
Sue Bonzell: Right, right.
Jackson Nance: Because I was a kid and then my mom, I see her, her neck is like super red. She’s like, “Oh my God.” But yeah.
Sue Bonzell: Okay. That is a good story, I like that story.
Jackson Nance: So it’s kind of at work.
Sue Bonzell: It’s words.
Jackson Nance: I guess it’s worse, because it was in front of like 400 people.
Sue Bonzell: Right. Exactly, exactly. Well, we’ll forgive you. We know what you meant. We knew what you meant, right?
Jackson Nance: Oh yeah. Here you go.
Sue Bonzell: All right, thank you’ll I’ll trade you and we’ll do one more. Maybe a couple more.
Jackson Nance: I’m down to do as many as you want. I like this stuff. Let me see, we play heads up at my house all the time.
Sue Bonzell: Oh nice.
Jackson Nance: Oh yeah, all the time.
Sue Bonzell: There you go.
Jackson Nance: What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done?
Sue Bonzell: Oh, read it out loud. Hold on.
Jackson Nance: What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done?
Sue Bonzell: Did we just talk about it?
Jackson Nance: If I knew that this would be the second question, let me think. Let me think. It wasn’t something I did, but so I was at the movie theater in Oxford, Mississippi with my brother. He’s six years older than me.
Sue Bonzell: Okay.
Jackson Nance: And you know what pants’ing somebody is?
Sue Bonzell: Yes.
Jackson Nance: When you’re a kid, you’re a guy, you do that. I mean, I probably would still do that to some of my friends. But so underwear and all, I believe it was, for a split second, we’re walking into a movie theater, it’s a weekend, there’s young girls everywhere. Like my age, I’m probably 10 at this time. So I’m weird around girls.
Sue Bonzell: Right.
Jackson Nance: And he walks up behind me and jerks my pants down and I pulled them right back up. I started crying and my grandfather got on him about it. But dude, I was so mad. It was terrible, it was awful. But yeah, so that’s definitely up there.
Sue Bonzell: You got to love brothers, right?
Jackson Nance: Oh yeah.
Sue Bonzell: I have a sister, so I don’t know anything about any of that.
Jackson Nance: No, no, absolutely not.
Sue Bonzell: I’ll leave it to the boys, that’s why it’s boys. That’s a boy thing.
Jackson Nance: Oh yeah. We used to play wrestle and I’d accidentally hurt him. Act like I didn’t realize how hard I could hit or whatever and then he’d get pissed, and then dad would get mad. He’d be like, “Y’all stop that.”
Sue Bonzell: Are you guys close now as your adults?
Jackson Nance: Oh yeah, really close.
Sue Bonzell: Good.
Jackson Nance: He’s definitely my best friend.
Sue Bonzell: That’s awesome. See, well it all worked out, right?
Jackson Nance: Yeah. Oh yeah.
Sue Bonzell: But the pantsing story.
Jackson Nance: Dude, I know it was terrible. Let’s see, okay. Do I have a favorite friend? I’m going to piss some people off this answer.
Sue Bonzell: Okay, maybe you can do like a top five or something like that.
Jackson Nance: Okay I’ll just say this…
Sue Bonzell: Do the top 5 or whatever.
Jackson Nance: So like I said, my brother’s really close to me, but he’s my brother, so we’ll talk about friends.
Sue Bonzell: Okay.
Jackson Nance: So I’ve got two, I think two or three. I got two or three. So my buddy Jack. So when I moved to Nashville in 2008, I moved to Gallatin.
Sue Bonzell: Okay.
Jackson Nance: And I was eight years old, my next door neighbor was this kid named Jack. And it was funny because for a brief period, so I lived here, he lived here, another kid lived here and these two guys names were Jack. So it was Jack, Jack and Jackson. So it was like really crazy.
Sue Bonzell: Oh my gosh, that’s funny.
Jackson Nance: But other Jack phased out, but Jack Carrier, we’ve been friends for 15 years.
Sue Bonzell: That’s awesome.
Jackson Nance: And I’m super proud of him, he’s a great guy. And he is always supported me. And now the other guy, so at Puckett’s when I was 13, I started doing a birthday bash, where I would play a bunch of music. And I was entertaining my own birthday party, I guess, which is kind of weird. But I met this kid named Hunter Pellow at that party and we hit it off. He’s the type of dude, I’ll send him a song that I wrote 30 minutes ago, by the time I see him, we’re playing it in the car, he’s singing the chorus.
Sue Bonzell: Wow.
Jackson Nance: He’s always supported me, he’s always been really cool with that. And then I’d have to say my buddy Jayden. Jayden Delmar, he’s actually at SCAD in Atlanta right now, doing fashion school.
Sue Bonzell: Awesome.
Jackson Nance: And what’s probably going to happen is, if I can ever get this thing off the ground, he is going to come and work with me.
Sue Bonzell: Nice.
Jackson Nance: So, yeah.
Sue Bonzell: So it’s always fun to work with your friends.
Jackson Nance: Oh absolutely.
Sue Bonzell: Like you said, it doesn’t really feel like work, right? You’re like, “I haven’t really had a job.”
Jackson Nance: It’s crazy.
Sue Bonzell: That’s pretty cool.
Jackson Nance: Yeah. And I got really lucky too, because music just reached up and bit me. I didn’t sit down and have a hard thinking process. I mean, I was 12, I didn’t have a hard thinking process.
Sue Bonzell: Right.
Jackson Nance: It was just like, “Oh, I like doing this and people seem to like it when I do it.”
Sue Bonzell: Oh, this is fun, yeah.
Jackson Nance: So I was like, “Let’s do it.”
Sue Bonzell: That’s like everybody’s dream. Do what you love, you never work a day in your life, right?
Jackson Nance: Yeah, I’m beyond blessed with that for sure.
Sue Bonzell: That is awesome. Well, I am so glad that you were here with me today. Jackson Nance, go download his song, “I love you, mom.” On all the platforms.
Jackson Nance: Yes. Ma’am.
Sue Bonzell: Make sure you follow him on social media and you can follow me too, if you want.
Jackson Nance: I’m going to follow you.
Sue Bonzell: Okay, good.
Jackson Nance: I got you, I got you.
Sue Bonzell: I got a new follower, that’s good. Thanks for watching Up In Country, be sure to like and subscribe and leave us a comment. We do new episodes every Tuesday and be sure to follow Up In Country on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook. And you can follow me too, at Sue Bonzell on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.
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