JT Hodges

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JT was raised in a recording studio… literally. “My family started Fort Worth’s first multi-track recording studio,” Hodges explains, referring to Buffalo Sound Studios, a facility that played host to artists as disparate as T Bone Burnett and Michael Bolton. Were the kids allowed to hang around? “Oh, it was part of our chores!” he laughs. “On weekends when there were sessions, Pops would make us vacuum and clean the bathrooms. Once we were done, my brother and I would be so excited to go into my dad’s audio library and listen to record after record, on vinyl or quarter-inch tapes. That was the environment that I grew up in, crawling around under the console starting at 8 months old. Hodges’ parents weren’t just studio owners: They had their own band. “My mom had a country record deal with MCA Nashville but she didn’t want to leave us kids and ended up choosing motherhood.” His folks had met under professional musical circumstances. Dad studied concert piano at Juilliard and then went to the University of North Texas to get his masters’ degree in jazz composition. He also had a country covers band to help pay his way through grad school, and when he was 27, a 17-year-old girl drove up to audition. She got the gig and got the guy—and they both got a boy who shared their consuming love of all kinds of music.

“Country is the first thing I ever remember hearing. My grandmother loved Conway Twitty and we used to listen to him all the time. His parents, meanwhile, had a fixation on the early rock of Elvis, Jerry Lee, and Buddy Holly, whose influence can certainly be felt in some of the new album’s original songs, like “Rather Be Wrong Than Lonely.”

There was a post-college detour to L.A., after Hodges graduated from Texas Christian University. He followed some buddies out to the west coast for a couple years, hitting the coffeehouse circuit to test out the material he was writing. That’s where he met his “future” wife, an expat from Missouri, who had moved out to L.A.

Hodges and his wife soon migrated to the Music Row songbelt, and in the spring of 2010, he landed a record deal. “Mark Collie brought me in and introduced me to all the songwriters in this town. He introduced me to Don Cook, who was responsible for a lot of Brooks & Dunn hits. Together they brought me to Mark Wright, and the three of them agreed to co-produce me. Don and Mark Wright had been friends for a long time but I was the first artist they’d ever worked on together and for that, I am truly honored.”

There is the sense of a dream deferred and fulfilled, as Hodges’ musical parents “argue over who’s my No. 1 and No. 2 fan.” As more and more people get to hear the new album, Mom and Pops may encounter a lot of competition for those slots.

Buckle Up :: Bands :: Sunday

Buckle Up Festival 2014 :: Bands :: Sunday - Photos courtesy of KP Photography, Amy L. Painter Photography, Jewels Yoga Photography and michael gabbard photography.

KP Photography, Jewels Huber Photography, Amy Painter Heringer, Michael Gabbard Photography

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Buckle Up 2014 :: The Fan Experience :: Sunday

The Fan Experience :: Buckle Up 2014 :: Friday Photos courtesy of KP Photography, michael gabbard photography, Jewels Yoga Photography, and Amy L. Painter Photography

KP Photography, Jewels Huber Photography, Amy Painter Heringer, Michael Gabbard Photography

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Full Buckle Up Festival Lineup + Schedule Announced!

The inaugural three-day Buckle Up Music Festival unveiled their full schedule and lineup including Alabama, Willie Nelson, Alison Krauss and Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas, The Band Perry and many more! The event takes place along the Ohio River at Yeatmans Cove and Sawyer Point July 18-20....