Newfoundland and Labrador Mi’kmaq Country Artist Jason Benoit Giving Fans What They Want With Finely-Tuned Single “I Wanna Hear That Song”
You bought the tickets months ago. Stood in line to get in. Waited for the opening act to finish their set. Now, at last, the band or musician you waited for is playing that hit single or deep cut that definitely made all the time, cash, and travel invested worth it. Now Newfoundland and Labrador Mi’kmaq country sensation Jason Benoit nails that feeling with the impressive single “I Wanna Hear That Song.”
Benoit says “I Wanna Hear That Song,” co-written by him and his friend Gerry Foote, was inspired by more than a decade of performing in Canadian country music circles and noticing one simple, universal fact.
“EVERYONE wants to hear a song they can sing along to, whether that be a song by the artist themselves or even a cover song,” he says. “So with this in mind, while traversing the highways and byways of Ontario on tour, we wrote this track.“
The joyous single, with its toe-tapping beat and some fine banjo playing by musician and multi-instrumentalist John Hynes (who co-produced the song with Benoit), resembles quality, radio-friendly material recalling the likes of Keith Urban or Tim McGraw. And like those artists, Benoit, who wrote “I Wanna Hear That Song” while touring Ontario in 2019, clearly does not take his audience for granted for a split-second.
Oh I never wanna leave
Can we just stay here please
If we get loud enough
Everyone get on your feet
Play the one that gets me through
The one for me and you
Never wanna go back home
“This song is a tribute to the songs we love, as they are the reason why the fans spend their hard-earned money to come see live artists,” Benoit, based in Fox Island River, Newfoundland, says. “It’s a very profound moment when you hear your favorite song being sung by your favorite artist while you’re in the same room; it creates a memory that lasts forever and you will always look back at that time, who you were with, and what life meant to you, and remember that for a second in time you truly got to experience something both magical and personal with the audience as a whole. It’s truly a beautiful thing.”
Benoit, who won a 2024 East Coast Music Association Country Recording of the Year Award for his Time Traveller album, has had a busy few years. This included a 2023 Canadian Country Music Association nomination for Alt-Country Album of the Year and four 2024 MusicNL nominations including Album of the Year for his EP The Deadwood. In 2023, he earned MusicNL’s Fans Choice Entertainer of the Year and Indigenous Artist of the Year. And “I Wanna Hear That Song” should only result in a few more nominations down the road.
Now “I Wanna Hear That Song,” the follow up to Benoit’s “1000 Mile Grin” single, will only propel that popularity both nationally and beyond. It’s also a tremendously apt, appreciative crowd-pleaser that’s bound to make fans old and new buy the tickets, pay for the babysitter, and make the late bedtime worth it all just to see Jason Benoit. In short, you’ll wanna hear this song!
Hi Jason! Good to see you again and congratulations on winning the 2024 MusicNL Award Winner for Fans Choice Entertainer of the Year. How does it feel?
It’s phenomenal. This is the second year in a row I won this award and I’m so honored and humbled to even be considered for this award let alone be the winner 2 years in a row. This is a testament of the amazing support and strength of my fan base. I could not have won this award without them. I’m so blessed.
What inspired the concept behind your new single, “I Wanna Hear That Song,” and how did it come together during your tour in Ontario?
I was on tour at the time with my buddy Gerry Foote who cowrote the time traveller album with me. We were talking about how other acts have anthems that everyone sings along to and I wanted a song like that. So, driving in my 2009 Toyota Carolla to and from venues and radio stops, we wrote the song.
Can you tell us more about your collaboration with Gerry Foote on this track? How did your creative partnership shape the song?
Gerry is an incredibly creative guy. There’s nothing he can’t create given the tools and the time to do it. So it was just a natural evolution of our friendship to begin writing together. We like to have a few drinks and play some old country tunes and make up funny songs for a laugh and that eventually turned into writing our first song together “Two Wrongs” from my Revolution Pt 1 album. This led to writing “I Wanna Hear That Song” in 2019 which is my current single, and then the “Time Traveller” album in 2020 which went on to win the ECMA for Country Recording of the Year this year. Pretty good for two fellas just having some fun.
You mentioned that the song is a tribute to the power of live music. What personal experiences in your career helped inspire this tribute?
When I open for another act, especially acts that I admire, I always watch the artist and the audience. I pay attention to the songs that work with the audience and try to find new ways to improve my own show using this inspiration. One thing I’ve learned by doing this is the audience loves to sing along whenever given the chance. Whether that be a hit from the artist or a cover song the artist may do. They all come out to hear the songs their familiar with and to experience a moment in their life live and in person. It’s a very powerful moment when everyone is singing along to the same song. This is what inspired us to write “I Wanna Hear That Song”
What role do you think live performances play in building that deep connection between artists and their audiences, and how does this inspire your songwriting process?
Artists have a unique opportunity to connect with each person in the audience and make it feel like they are speaking and singing to that one person even though they are performing for the whole crowd. There is a fine art in live performance, and I am still learning and trying to improve myself, even though I’ve been doing this for years now. I’m bound and determined to give the audience an experience that they won’t forget. To give them something that they can take away with them and hold on to even for a little while. Music is important enough to everyone that they’d spend their hard-earned money to stand in long lineups to come see me perform so I want to give them my best. This inspires me to create better songs and always improve my craft. It’s all about the fans.