Jerrod Niemann

Jerrod Niemann, recognized as both a country songwriter and performer, has supplied material to Garth Brooks, Neal McCoy, Jamey Johnson, and Zona Jones, among additional artists, while also establishing a loyal audience through his own recordings and stage appearances. Although born in Harper, Kansas, he grew up in the neighboring community of Liberal, where early exposure to Lefty Frizzell, George Strait, and Keith Whitley shaped his musical direction; he soon began teaching himself guitar to enter talent contests. By age ten he was already composing and delivering his original songs. After finishing high school, Niemann enrolled at South Plains College in Levelland, Texas, and supported his developing career by performing in local clubs and bars. He independently released his first album, Long Hard Road, in 1999.

The following September he relocated to Nashville and secured a development contract with Mercury Records in 2001. While the arrangement produced few tangible outcomes, it allowed him to form a band that toured the club circuit. In 2004 he issued another self-released project, Jukebox of Hard Knocks. Category 5 Records signed him in 2006 and put out the single “I Love Women (My Mama Can’t Stand),” yet the label folded before the scheduled album Behind This Microphone could be completed.

The single nevertheless created new possibilities, leading to a 2009 deal with Arista Nashville. His major-label debut, Judge Jerrod & the Hung Jury, arrived the next year and succeeded commercially on the strength of the number-one single “Lover, Lover” together with its Top Five follow-up, “What Do You Want.” In the fall of 2012 Niemann issued the ambitious and unconventional Free the Music, which earned favorable notices but yielded no charting singles. For the 2014 follow-up High Noon he chose a safer direction; its lead track, “Drink to That All Night,” reached number six on the Billboard country charts, exceeding the performance of anything from the prior release. Subsequent singles “Donkey” and “Buzz Back Girl” failed to connect, and the non-album track “Blue Bandana” only briefly appeared inside the Country Top 40 in 2015. Niemann departed Arista Nashville the following year. He promptly joined Curb and released the duet “A Little More Love” with Lee Brice. Over the ensuing months he completed his Curb debut, This Ride, which appeared in October 2017.