A trip home from Nashville feels right for Jason Teska

/ October 3, 2014
The latest album from Jason Teska, "Forward and Back." (Provided photo)

The latest album from Jason Teska, “Forward and Back.” (Provided photo)

Back in the day, Jason Teska was one of the hardest working guys in the Central New York music scene.

The guitarist and singer for country-rockers The Back Alley Boys was always putting in the effort to be the best he could be.

I admired, respected and liked him a lot in those years when I carried pad and pen as the music writer and critic for the big daily to so many gigs in our part of the world. With veteran drummer Ron Thompson calling the shots, this was a band that wanted to play bars and fests and theaters. They put out memorable CDs. They built a great following.

Life and music happens, you know, and Jason Teska got so good that he decided to move to Nashville, to see how he stacked up against the best the business has to offer.

The past couple weeks, a couple of emails found their way to my inbox.

First, Ron Thompson, still my great friend as he programs the music at Auburn’s Theater Mack and drums for hire for various talented performers, sent me word that he had enlisted his former band mate to play at the cool and cozy theater this Saturday, Oct. 4.

The particulars:

The show starts at 8 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $10 in advance, available at the Theater Mack site. They’ll be $12 at the door if any are left.

And then Jason Teska, still my friend from down south, made sure I know about the gig.

He sent over the photo from his latest album, above, and the following release:

“Nashville country singer/songwriter Jason Teska, a native of Central New York, celebrates the release of his new solo album ‘Forward and Back.’ The eclectic, 13-song project is a collection of tunes recorded at various times in his career, including live acoustic tracks, songs from the Back Alley Boys days and studio cuts of newer material recorded in Nashville.

“Since moving to Music City almost 10 years ago, Teska has made his living in the Honky Tonks, tour buses and studios of Nashville and has shared the stage with many artists, including Kris Kristofferson, Chris Young, Kid Rock and Lee Brice.

“ ‘Forward and Back’is available on iTunes, at NY Pizzeria in Cato, N.Y., and at all of Jason’s shows.”

Do know of musicians from your neck of the woods who’ve tested their talents by moving to Nashville, or Los Angeles, or New York City? What do you think it takes to make it in the entertainment business, great talent or good fortune? Do like the intersection between country, rock, folk and roots music, and who are your favorite artists playing any or all of those styles?

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47 thoughts on “A trip home from Nashville feels right for Jason Teska”

  1. I think it depends on supply and demand. On the pop side, just be young and cute. There are some amazing voices though. I love Sam Smith. There isn’t as much room for the over 40 artists. On the country side, I’ve laughed and said the record label contract is a case of Crest White Strips, gym membership and a gift card to Buckle. Just be a young male that can be shaped and marketed according to the demo buying music in that quarter. If you want talent, hit itunes, there are some music gems too well hidden.

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  2. Now, Mark, you know I do. (LOL!) Yes, actually MANY of my musician friends have recently moved to the Nashville area. It’s actually kind of weird just how many of them have ended up there in the past couple of years, actually. I’ve not heard of your friend, but I’ll have to check him out. 🙂

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  3. Really cool Mark. One of our hometown guys toured with Reba for a couple of years, and could have gone on forever, but came home because he was homesick. Not a musician, but Johnny Depp is from my hometown, and there have been others now deceased, and names not remembered at the moment, but I could eventually remember them if I tried. I don’t plan to try though, because it isn’t worth losing any sleep over.

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  6. What a nice surprise, I knew Jason when he was a young lad–a great kid! I lost touch with him so was very glad to see this story. Can’t make the show but will definitely buy his album. Thanks, Mark! 🙂

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    • He is a very nice person, Ermigal. The western edge of ‘Cuse is a small world, I know! After posting that, I heard from Ed Balduzzi (the younger) about ties with Jason, and then Mick Fury of Syracuse meeting him in a bar in Nashville. I love stuff like this, and I’m so happy that I was able to bring him back into your life with my post. 🙂

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  7. This sounds like a great concert, so nice of your friend to give you a personal notice. You are definitely the man to go to about musical events in your area. Remembering local roots is a true way of ‘paying back’ where you came from! Mark, I envy you!

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  8. There have been a couple of musical acts from around these parts who have tried out for The Voice and American Idol. They did well, but not well enough to make it to the TV show portions. It’s exciting to see local people make it good!

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    • We’ve had some locals make it to the TV portions of ‘The Voice’ and ‘American Idol’ and ‘America’s Got Talent,’ and I always get excited about it because, well … It’s cool for them and fun for us. As you say, Colleen, it’s exciting to see local people make it good. 🙂

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  9. that’s so wonderful. i love when locals leave to hit the big time and come back, remembering where they came from. i do think it’s a combo of time, place, talent, and luck all rolled into one. i love the crossovers and intersections of music of all kinds. my favorites are sting and the avett brothers.

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  10. That’s a nice, high quality picture; really draws you in. In Texas, you have to like country music. I fought it for 21 yrs until I worked in a restaurant where they played it daily, driving me nuts until I learned all the lyrics and got brainwashed and fell in love. And living in Austin, half the people we know were or are in bands. One of our waiters at a Tex-Mex restaurant lives off the royalties off his one hit and serves for fun. Many people in our church band do gigs with their regular bands on the side, and still others once had high dreams that never materialized. Just yesterday, my husband’s Throwback Thursday photo got him and his ex-bandmates to talking. So many people want to play and sing, and not everyone can make a living at it. Well, you know–it’s just like writing!!

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    • You do indeed live in a music hotbed, Kerbey. You can go see a great band on every corner, literally, and have your favorite buritto served by a hit-maker, too, as you just explained.

      I, too, was a relative latecomer to country music. It wasn’t a thing when I was growing up on Long Island, but then the Southern rock genre exploded, and I immediately was a fan of that sound. Now I think country and rock are cousins, really, when done well, with the song at the center.

      Your husband’s Throwback Thursday? What’s his blog? And why don’t you write more about YOUR music inclinations in your church band, dear Kerbey?

      And, lastly, I think you are correct. There are many parallels between music and writing and making it big, or little, even.

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      • Oh, no–I just mean on facebook, you’re supposed to post an old picture on Thursday and then mock each other. I just sing in the band every three weeks at church as a way of serving and clapping well and keeping the harmonies tight and working my hair to fabulous heights. He plays the bass and sometimes sings. He doesn’t blog; he’s busy doing labor for a real job. But our church band does rock and rap and pushes the envelope, which generally makes us feel old.

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      • You had me all worked up that hubby blogged too. I still want at least blog from you about your music, my friend, and your hubby’s music, too, in the church band. I find the subject interesting, and so would Benson and Liz and Paul, and there’s a good start for you right there.

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      • Oh, but, Mark–music is so subjective! I always feel like a ditz posting anything about music because I’m so mainstream. Then again, I know all the lyrics!

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      • I want you to post about how you feel playing the music, what it does for you, why you’ve stuck with it to play in the church band. Emotions, feelings, connections to the lyrics and melodies. Pretty please.

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      • We know you worship Kerbey. Why do you think that would make us feel uncomfortable? If there are people who have a different viewpoint, they can offer it, or not, and so be it. It doesn’t have to be a religious war.

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  11. I met many, many talented musicians in my New York years and I can tell you with 100% certainty that without a heaping helping of LUCK, it’s not going to happen. Many realize that but they don’t let it cloud their ambition. They’re strong-willed.

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  12. your questions stump me, but what fun to have friends in the music biz. Personally, I’m not as fond of music when it veers too far country and so honky tonk is out. But good music is good music all the same. Yeehaw 🙂

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  13. From everything I’ve read about how people hit it big in the entertainment industry, luck plays a huge role assuming the talent is there in the first place. So many people who are big stars acknowledge that there are amazingly talented people out there who go largely unknown. I think of the late, great Eva Cassidy, for instance.

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  14. That is so neat Mark – that Jason is coming back to his roots. We have a number of singers who have left this area to LA to build their career – like Alanis Morissette. Most make their permanent homes closest to their work in the US or Europe and come for visits occassionally. Shania Twain is from Timmins , a small town about 700 miles north of Ottawa (there’s not much in the way of population up there and this is the closest major city to Timmins).

    I think that it takes talent , luck and especially hard work to become world-renowned at entertainment. I’m from Halifax and our provincial sweetheart was Anne Murray from Springhill, a small mining town about 100 miles from Halifax. She was one of the hardest working entertainers that I have ever met. I think the mix of qualities for success varies greatly from artist to artist but all three are required. Shania Twain worked her butt off as her family was very very poor and she started singing at age of 8. Again she had talent and worked very hard and had some luck. To be honest Mark as much as we call it luck – those who work very hard at their calling, generate a lot of their own luck.

    Anyway, great post Mark. And a heart warming story.

    Oh, on an unrelated matter, I just did another guest post over at Cordelia’s Mom. I’d be honored if you dropped by. Thanks Mark.

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    • Yes, indeed, Paul. Ann Murray, the songbird, Halifax ought to be proud. She toured and toured and toured. I had the pleasure and honor to interview her over the phone several times to preview Syracuse shows, and she was gracious, smart and engaged in the process, the triple-crown for any reporter in that business. Shania Twain I had the fortune to see at the New York State Fair grandstand right smack dab in the prime of her amazing popularity. In the middle of the concert, after a costume change, she comes out from the side of the stage and is carried around the floor space carried by a dozen stage hands on a bed-platform, like Cleopatra. It was ostentatious, amazing, and quite appropriate for the reigning queen of pop country. As for luck, her’s in part went by the name of Mutt Lange, I do believe.

      Paul, your smart comment about hard work making your own reminds me once again how we have to convince you to break down and get your own WordPress blog. Most of the themes are free. You can do it. Please and thank you.

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  15. Great post, Mark. I’ve known comedians who have moved out to LA to try to make it big. When my son Aaron and I were in Edinburgh, hanging out with one of those people, he and I discussed what helped people succeed in the entertainment business — the factors we came up with were talent, drive, and luck (although we disagreed about how much one need of each). Thanks for being great friends to Jason, to Ron, and to me, also.

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    • This topic was forever on my mind in the 21 years I wrote about music and entertainment for the big daily, Ann. As much as I wished and hoped and knew that talent and drive deserved to be the biggest determing factors for success, I knew that often, fortune played a strikingly humongous role, too.

      Also, to my great amazement and thorough satisfaction, I discovered the many and varied definitions for “making it big.”

      Have a great day and weekend, Ann, as we make it huge in our own ponds.

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      • Hi Mark,
        My wife and I (from Australia) visited Nashville last year and also stayed at the Twin Oaks Guest Ranch outside the city, where we had the pleasure of meeting Jason and his family. What beautiful, gracious and humble people they are! We enjoyed a meal with them, along with Cowboy Dave and Miss Deb from Twin Oaks, and had a jam afterwards. It was one of the highlights of our trip! Jason is a brilliant guitarist and songwriter – I love his album – and he’s a great bloke to top it off.
        All the best from downunder to you mate

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