Life, Values & Legacy: Our Chat with Jared Blackstone of Scottsdale

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Jared Blackstone . Check out our conversation below.

Jared , really appreciate you sharing your stories and insights with us. The world would have so much more understanding and empathy if we all were a bit more open about our stories and how they have helped shaped our journey and worldview. Let’s jump in with a fun one: What battle are you avoiding?
I guess my biggest battle would be burn out. I’ve learned to try and balance work life and family more over the years. I was never really able to relax while on vacation so I’ve learned to try and book tours where I have some days in between shows and enjoy where I am but also work.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m a singer and guitarist in a couple of bands and also do solo acoustic shows. I play Waylon Jennings in The American Highwaymen as well as leading my own band The Blackstone Three. it does get to be a little crazy being a full time musician especially these days. We don’t make money selling records anymore so you have to play a lot of live gigs.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What was your earliest memory of feeling powerful?
My father was a preacher and guitarist and my mother was a singer. I guess the earliest most powerful memory would be playing and singing for the congregation when I was 5 or 6 years old after that I kinda always knew what I was meant to do.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
I was singed to Atlantic Records and was one of the last bands that got cut when the file sharing service Napster came out. I had to get a day job and play music on the side for a few years and then decided it really wasn’t working for me so I went back to playing full time. It was a scary transition to be on a tight rope with no safety net to catch you if you fall but it was really the only thing that I knew that I was good at.

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
I would say today one of the biggest lies would be that if you move to Nashville or sing on American Idle you can be a big star or if you’re playing for thousands of people you must be making a lot of money. You would be surprised at the costs of being on the road and the percentage of ticket sales actually go to the bands and crew.

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. What are you doing today that won’t pay off for 7–10 years?
writing and making records. Its very scary with all of the things you can do with AI anyone can just type in a prompt and have a song written and recorded for them and now there are even AI bands. I am hopeful that people will still get out there and watch living breathing humans play music but who knows in 10 years we may be replaced by robots.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jaredblackstonemusic.com
• Instagram: @blackstonejared
• Facebook: Jared Blackstone
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@mrjblackstone?feature=shared