Georgia native Jared Wade grew up in Pooler, a small town close to Savannah. He recalls in a recent interview with The Shotgun Seat watching a documentary when he was sixteen years old called The History of Rock n Roll, which inspired him to pick up a guitar and teach himself how to play. Growing up, his parents would alternate between the country station and a station that would play oldies and a lot of Motown. He quickly became a fan of Otis Redding and has even gotten the opportunity to do some recording with Redding’s son.
Wade attended the same college as Luke Bryan and Cole Swindell, Georgia Southern, which leads us to believe something magical must be hidden down those halls. Only a short two years after he started performing live, Wade was lucky enough to open Luke Bryan’s Farm Tour. “It was great, there were ten thousand people at every show, it was huge. I learned a lot from the show itself and a lot of my weakness, it showed me that I was nowhere near ready at that time,” he says. Feeling he has grown so much in these past years, he is ready to release new music to his fans and continue his musical journey.
When chatting about his writing process he told us, “It is different every time depending on who I write with, I play the room I guess and see what kind of direction they want to go first. Usually, I walk into a room with a set of ideas and then drop one line that might be a hook or maybe a whole verse it all depends on who I write with.” One unique trait you may not know is Wade plays strictly by ear, never bothering to learn how to read written music. He also prides himself on writing what he knows and keeping it relatable. “I am a very observant person and sometimes in the middle of a conversation I will take my phone out and jot down what they say if it inspires me. I do that every day pretty much.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM-z8Frhid8
His first single off of his latest EP, “We’ve Got the Summer,” is certainly relatable, especially as the lazy days of summer flings come to an end. The song, an ode to rekindling old flames just while the weather is warm, is certainly not a new subject of music; however, Wade knew he had a good one after writing the song with Ty Reynolds. “I sat on that song for over a year, I kept going back to it and I felt there was really something about that song that stands out to me,” he tells us. “We decided to demo it just to have a copy to pitch to labels and artists and then I fell in love with it and I wanted to keep it for myself.”
His latest EP, We’ve Got the Summer, released earlier this month is completely different from anything he has released before. “I’ve come into my own and realized that I am writing for myself now and it translates into music I really love,” he says. Wade decided to have his band play on the tracks for this project instead of using the session players he has used in the past. “I figured, who knows me better then the guys who are on the road with me, we play a hundred shows a year.” This decision has allowed his EP to sound exactly the same to fans when they hear him play live. “I think the biggest thing that makes you stand out as an artist is Nashville is when you do something different.” He recalls the feeling of family when talking about his band, saying this project is just as much theirs as it is his, his guitar and keyboard players having a hand in writing the songs and producing as well.
“Diverse, I wanted something that would show off, vocal, writing skills and versatility,” he says in describing the EP as a whole. Featuring songs with a rock flare, pop country, 90’s country and even a stone cold country ballad, We’ve Got the Summer has something for all listeners. Check out the EP below and follow Jared on his socials Instagram, Twitter and on his website.