Originally from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Jared Nelson Smith moved to Los Angeles and assembled the trio Vagenius in 2003 with singer and keyboardist Juliette Commagere and drummer Joachim Cooder. Their singular electro-pop approach and intense stage presence fueled nonstop touring that steadily expanded a regional and national following. Rechristened Hello Stranger in 2006, the band issued its self-titled debut album, co-produced by Ry Cooder, Joachim’s father. The record earned favorable notice, prompting shared bills with Kings of Leon and the Foo Fighters. A 2007 EP followed, yet mounting tensions led to the group’s dissolution the next year.
During those same years Smith sharpened his songwriting and singular guitar voice through occasional session work and by supplying material for two Ry Cooder albums. After Hello Stranger ended, he composed and recorded the score for the 2008 Sundance film Good Dick. That experience led directly to his first solo album, the 2009 release Swimming Around in the Drift, which he wrote, performed, and tracked entirely alone, resulting in a poised folk-pop statement that traced his journey from Lake Superior’s shoreline to Hollywood. Growing weary of Los Angeles, he followed his restlessness to Bend, Oregon, where he and his wife Nora started the band Wilderness.
Wilderness carried forward the thematic concerns of his solo work, shaping a sweeping sound built on guitar and organ while playing throughout the Cascades region and releasing the 2013 debut LP Homeward from the Battle. Two years later the follow-up Escape Was Narrow appeared as Smith deepened his ties to the local scene. He began collaborating with Americana songwriter Micah Peterson on the latter’s Second Son project, producing the 2016 album The Heat of Devils and supplying lead guitar, bass, keys, and other instruments. That same year he also produced and performed on the Gold Rust’s first album, Hydrology. He recorded one more Second Son release, the 2019 EP 6 Songs, before his parallel work as a brewer took him to the remote coastal town of Shelter Cove, California.
