V. Hugh Lewis II
Jefferson Jimplecute
Reminiscent of the gold rush, Jarrod Sterrett turned growing up in Prospect into musical gold.
“I grew up just outside of Jefferson; six miles north of town in a little community called Prospect,” Sterrett remembers. “I graduated from Jefferson High School and I was never encouraged to play guitar or sing outside of church.”
But it was a Christmas gift his senior year that changed his life.
“I guess you could say that I grew up singing in church, but I got a guitar for Christmas my senior year,” Sterrett said.
That gift led to four albums, a host of top Texas Country Music Radio spots, and launched a career.
“While I was not encouraged to sing or play outside of church,” Sterrett said, “I enjoyed it, so I learned to play because I didn’t want to be like the Backstreet Boys or rhythm guys—just singing and can’t play anything. American Idol happened when I was 14, and I was highly discouraged from trying out for it.”
Releasing his first album in 2012, Jarrod Sterrett and the Hired Guns, have been on the road ever since, making a living, one venue at a time.
“I was still learning to play when I wrote my first song, but I didn’t really get to play much,” he said. “I got to play my first show in Jefferson. I walked around in town with my guitar, asking all the restaurants and bars and businesses, ‘Hey, can I play here? Hey, can I play here?’ Lucia’s Mexican restaurant was the first one to give me a shot at it. The Texas club cafe was the second one. I started playing acoustic in Jefferson almost every week. I didn’t make much money, only about $80 a week back in 2004. But it was it was better than not having any income at all.”
That perseverance paid off over time as he returned to Jefferson’s Auntie Skinner’s Riverboat Club for his first CD release party in 2012.
“Everything in the world influences me in the way I play,” he says. “In the music I do, inspiration is all around you. Whether you watch a movie, and you’re thinking about the concept of that, or whether it’s something that happens to you personally. You think about that. And that makes for an excellent concept. Inspiration from music and writing is just all around you everywhere.”
Sterrett is on the road constantly, playing in “North Texas, South Texas, West Texas, New Mexico, East Texas,” he says. “We played Louisiana a little bit, but there we found people don’t go out to bars or music venues. If they’re going out for an evening, they tend to go to casinos.”
He sticks to the traditional country sound and doesn’t “really do what they call pop country, or ‘bro’ country,” he said. “I don’t actually set out to try and make a real country sound. It’s just what comes to me naturally. I still lose gigs for being too country and I don’t understand that. I get told I’m too country for a lot of places”
Sterrett is excited to be playing at 1852 on Austin next weekend.
“I mean, you have no idea,” he said. “At first, it was just a gig to me. That is exactly what I’ve always wanted to do in my hometown. I didn’t have that realization when I was booking it. But this is this is exactly what I’ve been wanting. They have geared [the facility] to mesh the acoustics in the room. And it’s just no longer a honkytonk. It’s not where people go out to, to go get drunk or go have a beer. They’re going for the music. I think Jefferson has always needed an actual listening room like this.”
Sterrett is working on a new single but isn’t ready to release it yet.
“We have almost get it finished,” he said. “Of course, I’ve been saying we’ve almost got it finished for three years. I started recording it in 2019, and then the pandemic happened. But we’re going to release a song I call ‘The Devil of Del Rio.’ Hopefully, pretty soon. I don’t have an official release date yet. But I make most of my living off of my live shows. I’m a performing musician.”
Sterrett performs at 8 p.m. April 9 at 1852 on Austin. Tickets are available via their website, 1852onaustin.com.
Jarrod Sterrett and the Hired Guns can be found on Spotify and Apple Music.