Jerrod's Hit, “Lover, Lover,” Builds Excitement Toward July 13 Album Experience

Sea Gayle/Arista Nashville recording artist Jerrod Niemann builds on the excitement surrounding his Top 20-and-climbing smash, “Lover, Lover,” with the July 13 release of his major label debut album, Judge Jerrod & The Hung Jury.


Refreshingly creative, the 20 tracks on Judge Jerrod & The Hung Jury weave eight personality-packed skits alongside a dozen songs, ten of which were written or co-written by Jerrod.

One of the Niemann co-writes, the song, “Old School New Again,” offers a fitting way to describe Niemann’s musical style – an engaging and entertaining mix of traditional influences with a contemporary edge. Indeed, Judge Jerrod & The Hung Jury also marks an old-school throwback to the days of an album as a musical journey, crafted as a start-to-finish listening experience.

In relating the song to the album, Niemann said, “To me, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to have really traditional country music, or any type of music.” He says that “Old School New Again” is about “being able to say what you want to say with your own voice, and having the guts to say it and the heart to say it. All the great entertainers that have ever existed, what made them so special is that they all did have their own voice, and spoke very loudly. And that’s why we all loved them, so this song was just kind of where I was saying, ‘Hey, all these songs that you’re listening to may not sound like everybody else, and that’s just because I want to try to say it my own way and make old school new again."

Niemann and longtime buddy Jamey Johnson had co-written three songs for Johnson’s album, The Dollar, and the two re-teamed, together with Dallas Davidson, to pen the Judge Jerrod & The Hung Jury album-opener, “They Should Have Named You Cocaine.”

Niemann first made a name for himself as a songwriter – co-writing Garth Brooks’ “Good Ride Cowboy,” among others – and while Jerrod had a hand in writing ten of the album’s songs, he also opted for two great covers, including the Dan Pritzker-penned “Lover, Lover” (originally recorded by Sonia Dada) and Robert Earl Keen’s “The Buckin’ Song.”

“Lover, Lover” was a song that Niemann had known and loved for years, and it was a perfect fit for an album that he wanted to take in a very acoustic and percussive direction. Jerrod actually undertook the project before he had a record deal, during a tough time when the real satisfaction was just in making the kind of music he wanted to make. Produced by Niemann and Dave Brainard, Judge Jerrod & The Hung Jury became a free-spirited expression of what Niemann hoped to create, and it earned him his recording contract. He says, “There was just so much passion from day one, and everybody wanted it to be great…there were no rules, no boundaries.”

Fresh, fun, and different, a sampling of tracks from Judge Jerrod & The Hung Jury can be heard online now at www.myspace.com/jerrodniemann. Also be sure to watch Jerrod’s official website, http://www.jerrodniemannofficial.com/, for all the latest, including tour dates and other news. Later this year, Jerrod will hit the road with headliner Gary Allan and Jerrod’s good friend, Randy Houser, on Allan’s “Get Off on the Pain Tour,” beginning in September.