Jameson Rodgers Reflects on His Year of Milestones

2021 has been nothing short of amazing for Country artist Jameson Rodgers. With a debut album, his first headlining tour, another No. 1 song under his belt, and marrying the love of his life, Rodgers has experienced many milestones this year with no signs of slowing down any time soon. 

To top off his monumental year, the “Cold Beer Calling My Name” singer has recently been named the Opry NextStage artist for the month of December, an opportunity he says he feels “honored” to be chosen for.

“…Anything that involves this place—the Opry—is an honor…” says Rodgers. “I’m just a dude from Batesville, Mississippi that moved up here with a dream, so I can’t believe they let me play this place, let alone be a part of this program. It’s crazy.”

As a way to shine a light on Country music’s rising artists, the Grand Ole Opry has selected a group of artists throughout the year as the Opry NextStage Class of 2021, providing them opportunities to play the famous venue and helping share their stories. As the final member, Rodgers joins good company with this year’s class made up of fellow artists Priscilla Block, Parker McCollum, Niko Moon, Hailey Whitters, Lainey Wilson, and Yola.

Rodgers, along with his fellow classmates, know what a career highlight it is to stand in the hallowed circle on the Grand Ole Opry stage. 

“I’ve been fortunate enough…I’ve probably played it six or seven times now and it’s just as special every time,” Rodgers says of the Opry. “I just think about everybody that’s stood in that circle and I’m just little ole Jameson from little ole Batesville, Mississippi that gets to do it too. It’s crazy.”

He took the Opry stage in November as part of the Opry NextStage Live In Concert, where he showcased his talent, playing songs ranging from a full band performance to just him onstage with his guitar. While playing his hit with Luke Combs, “Cold Beer Calling My Name”, Rodgers, who opened for Combs on his “Beer Never Broke My Heart Tour” in 2019 joked with the Opry audience about wanting to help Combs’ budding career by having him on the song. Rodgers and two of his band members proceeded to mesmerize the audience with a three-part harmony version of the Eagles’ “Seven Bridges Road” that transitioned into his current single “Missing One” about an Eagles record that he lost in a breakup. The crowd saw his true, raw gift of music when he closed his set solo on stage with just his acoustic guitar to sing about heartbreak with his song “Merle Haggard” off his new album, which gives a nod to one of his musical heroes. 

Getting named the December Opry NextStage artist is the perfect way to cap off Rodgers’ year of major life events. What most people experience in a lifetime, Rodgers experienced in a matter of weeks. He managed to help plan a wedding, release his debut album, and kick off his first headlining tour all within a two-week period. 

“That almost killed me. I’m not gonna lie, not gonna lie,” he says with a smile of the jam-packed few weeks. “The wedding was [a] dream day, everything went perfect. Album launch was great, and the tour’s been amazing too.”

Releasing his debut album Bet You’re From a Small Town into the world is something that Rodgers has dreamed about for years and he now finally feels as though he’s entering into the next level of his career. 

“It’s weird ‘cause I’ve put some music out prior to this, but they’ve all been EPs and so [with] a full-length album…I feel like I’ve graduated to level one finally or something, finally in the big leagues I guess, kind of…” he reflects. “It’s some of my favorite songs I’ve written over the last several years and so growing up listening to albums, I mean I guess you kind of dream of getting to put an album out, but it always seemed so far away, so it was pretty awesome…”

The collection of songs on his first full-length album are ones that Rodgers holds near to his heart, loving each of them for different reasons, which makes choose a favorite difficult. 

“It’s tough to pick one. My current single now ‘Missing One’ has been my favorite song I’ve written for a long time. But there’s a song called ‘Merle Haggard’ on there—that’s my dad’s favorite song—so it makes it one of my favorite songs as well… ‘Bet You’re From a Small Town’…I’ve lived pretty much every line of that song. It’s very personal. Just getting to play some of the new songs at shows, ‘Girl with the Broken Heart’ has been going over incredible live and ‘You Won’t’ as well…”

Hearing he’s co-written 14 of the 15 songs on the album is no surprise for those who have been following Rodgers’ career. He’s been in Nashville for years, paving his way as a successful songwriter and getting cuts with top artists. He’s had a hand in penning numerous songs for big names in Country including Luke Bryan’s “Born Here Live Here Die Here”, Chris Lane’s No. 1 “I Don’t Know About You”, and multi-Platinum-selling hits for Florida Georgia Line. As his career as an artist is taking off full speed ahead, he’s a little more protective of the masterpieces he writes. 

“I moved to town to write…that was kind of the first bit of success I had in town was writing for some other artists, so now it’s harder to turn songs loose,” he shares. “It was easier before when I had nothing going on. If Luke Bryan asked for a song, I’d be like ‘Yes, please! Take it!’ But now it’s like ‘I don’t know, I may need to save that for me’…So it’s an interesting thing, but it’s a good problem to have.”

Since releasing his debut album in September, he’s been taking his new songs across the country to share with fans on his first headlining tour, the “Cold Beer Calling My Name Tour 2021”. 

“…I’m from Mississippi, so we went and played in Oxford, MS a couple weeks ago and that’s always a special, special, special place and show for me, so that one’s always hard to beat. But we’ve had some amazing shows all over the place,” says Rodgers. “It was weird because we started the tour right before COVID, right? And so we had to pause it… ‘Some Girls’—my first single—wasn’t even in the Top 40 at that point and so by the time we got to resume the tour, I had two No. 1s…the crowds were just a little different, a little bigger, it was just crazy just the drastic change in that. It’s pretty cool.”

With such a noteworthy achievement-filled year, picking one highlight of 2021 is no easy task. 

“Oh gosh, I mean it’s hard to top getting married…But it’s been a huge year,” he reflects. “I’ve had another No. 1 song, I had my first album…It’s been a big year. It’s been a huge year. My first kind of headlining tour…I would get in serious trouble if I said something other than the wedding as number one…” he says with a laugh. 

He and his wife, fellow artist and songwriter Sarah Allison Turner, share a love story that Nashville dreams are made of. 

“We got married in Spring Hill, just South of Nashville,” Rodgers shares about his recent wedding. “It wasn’t a massive, massive wedding, but it was like 150 people there. Everything went as planned, as we wanted. Girls put in so much work into a wedding and so I was nervous for Sarah, just wanting everything to go smooth…It was one of the best days of our lives for sure…We met at the Bluebird 10 years ago at a songwriting workshop. We were just writing friends for a few years ‘til I had the courage to actually ask her out. It took me four years to ask her out…I had to make her work for it, you know? I’m kidding,” he jokes 

Coming off a quick break—his first since May—to visit family in Mississippi for Thanksgiving, Rodgers will be wrapping up his “Cold Beer Calling My Name Tour 2021” over the next few weeks, ending with two dates at Nashville’s Exit/In on December 16 and 17. 

After taking some time to spend with family over Christmas, Rodgers will hit the ground running in January with plans to rent a cabin east of Nashville for a songwriting retreat to begin the writing process for his second album.