Local artist to headline at The Lyric in Oxford

By Ashley Crutcher
Panola County has seen its fair share of youngsters grow and find success in their passions, including authors, artists, athletes and musicians.
Jameson Rodgers, a native of Batesville, is another familiar face to Panola County that has gone on to find success in the music industry with two EP’s under his belt.
Rodgers returns to Oxford to perform at The Lyric, Saturday, February 2, with Hunter Phelps to open the show.
However, Jameson has not always been a musician, only having started playing the guitar in college.
“I can remember in high school I would tell people – this was before I played guitar or anything – I would just be like, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna move to Nashville one day,’” he recalls. “It was time to pick it up.”
Rodgers is the next big thing with over 2.6 million total streams on Pandora and over 5 million over-all streams on Spotify.
Rodgers is the son of John and Donna Rodgers and is a 2006 graduate of South Panola High School. He attended Northwest Mississippi Community College, Creighton University and Southern Miss for interdisciplinary studies (Marketing).
He began writing and playing music during his time at Southern Miss. At age 21, he began performing sets in local bars with his college roommates.
Rodgers grew up listening to some of the legends like Bruce Springstein, John Mellencamp, Tom Petty, Eric Churchill and Garth Brooks. His first concert was Brooks at the Pyramid in Memphis.
“I grew up listening to ‘90s country and I love that era of music,” said Rodgers.
Rodgers made the move to Nashville in 2010 to try his luck in the big city. He began to develop his voice as a singer/songwriter and released his first EP in 2016 which features the streaming hit “Midnight Daydream.” Rodgers ability to develop his voice in the song writing business led to his first publishing deal with Combustion Music.
“I went into songwriting boot camp,” Rodgers said. “That’s all I did. I hardly played any shows or anything. I just focused on writing.”
In the meantime, Rodgers scored his first cut on Florida Georgia Line’s Dig Your Roots, with “Wish You Were on It.” He also released his self-titled EP, featuring the streaming hit “Midnight Daydream.”
Rodgers recently released his second self-titled EP with opening track “Ain’t Really Over” on January 19, which was produced by Mickey Jack Cones, Dustin Lynch, Joe Nichols and Chris Farren. Rodger’s bluesy sound sets the tone for his reflective style of song writing.
On “Cold Case,” Rodgers draws a line between himself and country’s long tradition of clever wordplay. Bouncing off the title’s suggestion of criminal investigations, he’s popping tops and pining over a woman who’s up and vanished from his life. His solution? Downing as many beers as he can handle.
“’Cold Case’ was just one of those things – somebody started playing a guitar and one of us just spit it out,” says Rodgers. “It kind of fell out of thin air.” The EP contains three other tracks including “Some Girls”, “Like You’ve Been There Before”, and “Missing One”.
“We started it in January and we didn’t finish it until May,” he says. “We knew it was gonna be a clever idea, but we had to get it right. It was a hard one, but a fun one.”
That dedication, coupled with Rodgers’ finely-tuned ear for songs, makes him perfectly suited to lean forward into Nashville’s ever-shifting winds while honoring his roots.
“I want to be known as the dude with good songs,” he says. “If a song gives you chill bumps or if it makes you cry or if it makes you happy, it’s done its job.”
Rodgers has toured all over the South and East Coast opening shows for Sam Hunt, Old Dominion, Eli Young Band and more.
According to Rodgers, Midnight Daydream is his favorite song to play as it is one of his more popular tracks.
“It’s always cool seeing people sing it back to you,” said Rodgers.
Rodgers named “Missing One” as his favorite track on his newest EP and an oldie but a goodie “Great Day To Be Alive” by Travis Tritt as his favorite song to cover. His sets usually consist of approximately 20 songs, playing most or all of his songs as well as a few cover songs.
Tickets are $10 per person, must be 18 years of age or older. Doors will open at 8 p.m. with the show to begin at 9 p.m.