Five Questions With Jasen Ridge

We had the chance to ask Ottawa, ON based artist, Jasen Ridge a series of questions for our segment, Five Questions With, we hope you enjoy and in the process learn a bit more about him!

Care to introduce yourself to our readers?

My name is Jasen Ridge. I am a country rock singer/songwriter from Ottawa, Ontario. I started playing guitar at the early age of seven and grew up in a musical family of guitarist and singers. I began singing in my twenties and performed as a front man while also playing guitar for various bands. I have always been influenced by rock, blues and country and decided to perform as a solo artist combining all three influences in my thirties. During this time I formed the country rock identity of Jasen Ridge and released my first seven song EP with acclaimed Canadian producer, Luc Tellier from Montreal, Quebec during the time I was briefly living in the city in my mid thirties back in 2013. My EP entitled, Young and Reckless was released online in 2014 and my new single called “Deep Water” followed in 2016.  During the end of this year I met with Joel Lamoureux in Ottawa who owns a PR company called Blue Eyes Music Promotions and after hearing the single he had decided to help get the new single to Canadian radio nation wide. Since the release of the new single, it has been gaining momentum very quickly through out the country rock radio community and continues to receive attention while being debuted, featured and added to a list of stations across Canada.

Tell us a bit about your music and writing style.

My music is a blend of contemporary country, rock, blues and a flare of country pop. My writing style is melodious in structure and it lyrically follows a personal or fictional story line that always puts a heavy emphasis on the chorus lines and lead guitar hooks that heightens the melody of the song.

Do you have any upcoming shows? For someone who has yet to see you live, how would you explain your live performance?

I often perform in my cover band called Stone & Ridge with my Lead guitarist Paul Stone. We play together as duo both on guitar and vocals, as well, a full piece band for larger shows. Members of my cover band also perform for my country rock project Jasen Ridge. Our live performances are very energetic, engaging and vocally harmonies with members of the band also adding professional quality vocals to the overall sound. The merging styles of country, rock, blues and pop truly create a fun and immersive live performance.

If you were asked to suggest only one of your songs for someone to hear, which would it be?

I would suggest my single “Deep Water” because the sound production is bold, yet melodious, the vocals are rich in tone and the lyrics are emotionally deep that seem to always seem to translate instantly to the listener.

Canadian Beats is all about Canadian music, so who are your current favourite Canadian bands/ artists?

Currently, a favourite Canadian indie artist I like is Wintersleep from Halifax. Other artists that I admire are veteran performers like The Tragically Hip and Blue Rodeo.

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