Sue Bonzell: Welcome to Up N Country, powered by vLiveCast. Today’s guest is Jackson Capps, direct from Nashville. I’m your host, Sue Bonzell, where I’m bringing you new up and coming country artists. You can visit UpNCountry.com for all of our episodes, our merch, and you can join the VIP exclusive club. I also want to say thank you to our sponsor Soko Private Security. All right. Let’s meet Jackson Capps.

He met Marty Stuart when he was 12 and was asked to play on stage with him at the Grand Ole Opry. I am so excited to introduce you guys to Jackson Capps. Hey, Jackson.

Jackson Capps: How you doing, Sue? Thanks for having me.

Sue Bonzell: I’m doing great. You are in Nashville, correct?

Jackson Capps: I am, yes.

Sue Bonzell: You’re in Nashville. Now I understand that you actually finished high school early and moved to Nashville when you were 17?

Jackson Capps: I did. I graduated early and made the move here when I was 17.

Sue Bonzell: That experience with Marty Stewart, was that kind of like a turning point in your life?

Jackson Capps: I think so. I was 12 years old, so I was still pretty young in the business, but I’ve been doing music since I was eight. We met him and then we had backstage passes at the Opry and he was just so kind to me and got me up. After that, that’s when I knew music is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

Sue Bonzell: That is so amazing. I’m excited that I got to meet you in person, that’s actually where I saw you first playing in Nashville. You were playing at the Scoreboard, one of my favorite places there in Nashville, and I understand you do shows constantly in Nashville. Where can we see you play?

Jackson Capps: I do. You can see me and my band on Lower Broadway throughout the weekend all the time.

Sue Bonzell: What’s your favorite venue in Nashville to play?

Jackson Capps: I love Tootsies. I love Kid Rock’s. I love 3rd & Lindsley. Those are cool places to go to, and there’s really not a bad place to listen to music in Nashville.

Sue Bonzell: Right. I know exactly. Okay, wait. What’s the worst bar or worst location you’ve ever played?

Jackson Capps: I don’t know about Nashville.

Sue Bonzell: Not in Nashville maybe?

Jackson Capps: It wouldn’t be in Nashville, yeah. The worst gig I’ve ever played was, I had to set up some speakers on the back of my truck, on the tailgate, and sing like that.

Sue Bonzell: That sounds like a high school party.

Jackson Capps: It was. I think I still was in high school.

Sue Bonzell: Wait, was there a keg? Was there a keg involved?

Jackson Capps: No. No, it was actually a pre-show to like a Chris Stapleton or Zac Brown concert, or something like that. Yeah.

Sue Bonzell: Cool. Like a nice little tailgate party. I like that. I like that. When we saw you play in Nashville, one of the things that I noticed, and I noticed this about a lot of the artists that are playing, that are, like yourself, new, up and coming, you’re trying to get the career going, and what I noticed was y’all can play just about any song there is, and do it well.

Jackson Capps: That is true. Thank you.

Sue Bonzell: What’s the gamut of the artists that you play?

Jackson Capps: A lot of that is just, we all are just big lovers of music. If we’ve heard it and never played it, if somebody in the band kind of knows it, we can get through it. A lot of times we learn songs right then and there. I might have to hop off stage for a few minutes to learn one real quick and try it out.

Sue Bonzell: Wow. That’s pretty impressive. I was impressed watching you play. You were playing a little bit of everything, like some old school country, you were playing some that was kind of more rock, and then of course, some of your own music as well, so tell me about your music and your writing.

Jackson Capps: Right. I’ve been writing pretty much since I picked up a guitar, or at least trying to write. I got more serious into writing when I was about 13 and 14, did some songwriting competitions back home in Birmingham, Alabama. Then I moved here and I’ve been releasing singles for about a year or two, and we just put out a new single.

Sue Bonzell: I know that one of your singles, Yesterday’s Makeup, that charted in Australia.

Jackson Capps: It did, yes.

Sue Bonzell: You must have a big fan base in Australia. What’s that about?

Jackson Capps: I have a fan base in Australia, yeah. My guitar player is actually from Australia, and we charted on 83 on the charts over there, for that song.

Sue Bonzell: That’s really exciting. That’s really exciting. You have a new song right now that’s called LAX, correct?

Jackson Capps: That’s right, yes.

Sue Bonzell: Would you like to play it for us today?

Jackson Capps: I would love to play a little bit, yeah.

Sue Bonzell: Okay, cool.

Jackson Capps: Packed two bags for a six hour flight, going one way, catching that red eye. The sun’s setting in the west so I head back to Tennessee. Maybe one drink, maybe one last bitter toast, to the last four years, and to the west coast. We always said that we leave, now I’m leaving on my own. Now I’m sitting in this airport bar, I’ve always fake town. The only thing that kept me here was you. I’ll take the bad, I’ll take the good, I’ll remember you like a movie would, but there ain’t no happy ending to this mess. I’m just waiting to leave LAX.

I’m wearing that T-shirt that we bought at 17, out with your friends, they always hated me. I guess they can say I told you so, they were right all along about me. Now I’m sitting in this airport bar, always hated this fake town. The only thing that kept me here was you. I’ll take the bad, I’ll take the good. I’ll remember you like a movie would, but there ain’t no happy ending to this mess, and I’m just waiting to leave LAX.

Will you hear me whisper in the hum at night? Will you see me in those bright lights? Will the city scream my name just for you? Or will I just be a breath and words? Or just some guy you dated first? This drink is not the only thing I’m finished with. Now I’m sitting in this airport bar, I’ve always hated this fake town. The only thing that kept me here was you. I’ll take the bad, I’ll take the good. I’ll remember you like a movie would, but there ain’t no happy ending to this mess. I’m just waiting to leave LAX.

Sue Bonzell: Yes. I love that. Thank you.

Jackson Capps: Thank you.

Sue Bonzell: Thank you for playing it for us.

Jackson Capps: You’re welcome.

Sue Bonzell: You’re working on a video for this song, I understand.

Jackson Capps: Yes, we are. We haven’t started filming yet, but we’ve got a lot of ideas for it.

Sue Bonzell: Are you going to have to go back to LAX to do some filming?

Jackson Capps: I don’t think so. I don’t think we’re going to be too literal with it, but it’ll be fun. Yeah. There’ll be some LA vibes for sure.

Sue Bonzell: Okay. Cool. I’m really excited to see that. Being a new up-and-coming artist, living in Nashville, you’ve been there for a couple of years, what’s the experience been like and what have been some breaks that you’ve gotten along the way?

Jackson Capps: Right. As far as breaks, one thing that I’m thankful for just moving here, I’ve met so many great people, so many people have come into my life, and gone, but I’m really thankful for just the people I have surrounded … Who are surrounding me. Excuse me. I love my team. I love my band. I love the people I write with. The whole thing that I like living here, is just, I just want to be happy and enjoy what I’m doing and that’s what I’ve done so far, so I love it here.

Sue Bonzell: That’s a great life mission. I like that idea.

Jackson Capps: It is, yeah.

Sue Bonzell: You’re in Nashville, we’re out here in wine country, in California, so I got to ask, do you drink any wine at all? Are you a fan of wine?

Jackson Capps: I do like wine. I just turned 21 in March this year. I do like wine. I don’t know a single thing about it, but I do enjoy it, yeah.

Sue Bonzell: Awesome. We’ll have to get you out here and we’ll do a little wine education.

Jackson Capps: I would love to.

Sue Bonzell: Then you can teach me how to play guitar.

Jackson Capps: Yeah. That’s fair.

Sue Bonzell: Something like that. We can figure something out.

Jackson Capps: That sounds fun. Yeah.

Sue Bonzell: Awesome. I really want to thank you for taking the time to chat with us, play the song. Wishing you amazing things, I can’t wait to come back out to Nashville to see you again. Keep us posted. We can find you, what is your website?

Jackson Capps: JacksonCapps.com.

Sue Bonzell: As simple as that, you can find out all of his shows, information, and some of the new music that Jackson is doing. Thank you again, Jackson, and we’ll see you in person soon.

Jackson Capps: Thank you, Sue. Look forward to seeing you again.

Sue Bonzell: Thanks for tuning in to Up N Country, where we have new episodes every Tuesday, and be sure to visit UpNCountry.com for all of the episodes and information about our VIP club, where you’re going to get exclusive backstage access. If you’re on Instagram or TikTok, make sure to follow me, Sue Bonzell. I’ll see you next week.