In the early days of the music industry, the bands you heard on the radio, saw on MTV, and bought records of seemed far removed from the average person. Untouchable rock gods - doing drugs you couldn't afford, at parties you'd never get invited to, playing to stadiums of thousands at a time. "Musician" and "Arrogant" became synonymous. And for all the faults of the current state of the music industry (minuscule payments from streaming, higher overheads for touring, and COVID shutting down smaller venues, just to name a few), one thing that I do appreciate is how accessible the music you love has become, along with the artists who make it. When I wrote this bio the first time around, I did it the traditional way - how I thought I had to write it to sound like a "real" musician. Everything was in the third person - Jolson did this, he wrote this and that - and it was so disingenuous and weird for me to read back to myself lol. Instead, I thought I'd lean into the accessibility of the modern artist.
So hey, I'm Jolson :) a multi-instrumentalist/singer based in Kansas City. I grew up in a rural Kansas town far removed from any arts or culture, but through various twists of fate music was intertwined in my life very early on, and was my solace growing up in a place where I felt I didn't belong. My solitude, paired with a creative hunger, drove me to learn as many instruments as I could - to recreate songs I loved that no one around me did, and eventually to execute the music I could hear in my head. I have little to no formal training and have been cruising by so far solely on the prestigious YouTube academy and vibes. My music isn't gonna blow anyone away with technical prowess and pants-shitting skills. I'm just talking about stuff that I don't have a good way to talk about set to the kinds of music I find personally pleasurable. Which also means I end up jumping around genre-wise quite a bit. If you're wondering what to expect though, I naturally fall into indie pop/rock, midwest emo, and funk pretty often. So if you're into that, then you'll be into me/us. Speaking of, are we a band? A solo act? To clarify - I write and record all the music myself (bass, drums, guitars, keys, vocals, whathaveyou). Then, my incredible friends Garret Aiken (drums), Jesse Rodriguez (guitar), Jackson Broadwater (bass), and recently, my younger brother Gavin Robert (keys) filled out the live outfit so that we could perform as a band. It is worth noting that somehow, each one of these people is more skilled at their given instrument than I am, which I quite enjoy! It makes the live shows that much cooler. And I've always been partial to performing live; I think it's what I do best as a performer, and of course, it's what we do as a band.
So come see us soon! The album is out (after years of bitching and moaning about it), and we already have so much more material that you can only see live. Buy tix, listen to the stuff you can on Spotify (gives us baby money), or buy shit from our store (gives us money we could potentially live on to create more cool things for you and the world). And a genuine thanks if you're here. For you to be into what I do makes my heart full :) Big love,
Jolson and the Fear of Snakes
You may also like the following events from recordBar:
- Next month, 1st November, 07:00 pm, Apocalypse Meow 18 - Lava Dreams, Steddy P, Nathan Corsi & My Atomic Daydream, Betse and Clarke Electric in Kansas City
- Next month, 2nd November, 07:00 pm, H.R. (of Bad Brains), Boss Hooligan Soundsystem in Kansas City
- Next month, 3rd November, 07:00 am, Doublecamp in Kansas City
Also check out other
Music events in Kansas City,
Entertainment events in Kansas City,
Workshops in Kansas City.
