Meet the Band: Jason Ferguson

Jason Ferguson

2009 has been a year of change for one of Omaha’s most respected guitarists, Jason Ferguson. The project that he had long been involved in, Sarah Benck & the Robbers, disbanded and he took up roots in another established act in town, the Filter Kings. The biggest event of Ferguson’s year will take place on Thursday, Dec. 17 at the Barley Street Tavern when the longtime “sideman” releases his debut solo disc “Sweet Disguise.” Starting out playing in bands at 15 years old in the Norfolk area, Ferguson would try his hand in California, before making his way to the Omaha area playing alongside Omaha songwriter Korey Anderson in Soul Trigger. Ferguson is not a brash, flashy, or braggadocios personality yet he quickly became one of the more talked about guitarists in town due to his subtle and soulful playing style. After the demise of Soul Trigger, Ferguson would join up with then upstart Sarah Benck and help form the Robbers. Sarah Benck & the Robbers would go on to become on the most in demand bands in town playing many big gigs and festivals in the area and releasing two well-received albums.

Very few people that were fans of Ferguson’s guitar playing and even many of his acquaintances did not know that Fergurson was also a songwriter himself. Many were surprised when he started doing a few solo gigs here and there and at the sound and strength of the songs that he was playing. His debut disc “Sweet Disguise” is a strong effort that focuses on songwriting, and while Ferguson’s stellar guitar playing is still there this is not the wank-fest that many longtime guitar players would put on the first album bearing their name. It’s a soulful affair based in roots Americana and finds Ferguson in strong voice, a voice that many of us never knew he had. I met up with Ferguson this past week at the site of his upcoming CD release party to discuss going solo for the first time and his album “Sweet Disguise.”

How old were you when you started playing?
I started when I was 15. I was playing in bands in the Norfolk area. Country, rock and blues. A lot of outlaw country. The Norfolk scene had a lot of acts like that. I basically came up in the jam night scene there.

Were you playing in bars at 15?
They let me in. I just didn’t drink and my dad accompanied me a lot. 

When did you start playing original music?
That goes back to Flatwater Circus, which were four really good friends of mine, including Danny Leonard. I did both the cover band and the original band thing for a while. I did five bands for five bucks with Mercy Rule in 1992 under the Gravity Wagon.

When did you come to Omaha?
From Norfolk I went to L.A. I went to the Musicians Institute and spent a year there. I graduated from “MI” and then moved home for a couple of years. I was more serious about the original music at that time. When I came back I got a lighting gig and did Harry Connick’s tour of 1992. That is when I moved back to L.A. because I now had connections and a car. I hooked up with some bands and played with a lot of actors and guys trying to make it.

I worked with some dudes that had a demo deal with Geffen. That last project was kind of my undoing in L.A., because it was apparent that I was broke and you couldn’t just make it as a guitar player. I came home in 1999 and the first person I hooked up with when I came back home was Rudy from that Flatwater Circus band, and he was playing with Korey Anderson and that started to gel and that is how I was introduced to Omaha and that is where I met my wife and started my current life.

When did you start to focus on songwriting?
I haven’t really focused on it, that is the problem. I just go through phases of activity and non-activity as far as writing.  It’s just that something hits me, and if it hits me I can get it done. I don’t consider myself a serious songwriter as a craft because I don’t sit down and do it as a serious thing. My heroes were the side guys such as Scotty Moore who played with Elvis and Jimmy Page, though he was obviously not just a side guy. I also love Lyle Lovett, Billy Joe Shaver and Paul Simon and a lot of other great songwriters.

How is to be out front of a project for the first time?
The frustrating part about being a sideman is that you are there to serve someone else’s song. The ideal situation is that you get together and write the song, but that is difficult with some songwriters. I have always tried to be someone who could just be there and contribute to the song and focus on my role there rather than being the lyric writer.

Why did it take you until now to do your own thing?
I wasn’t happy where I was at as a songwriter. I didn’t have enough songs, or I would compare my songs to someone like Brad Hoshaw and he has 200 songs and I am not that guy. I have known so many good songwriters and played with them. I never knew that my material was up to par, it was a slow process. The songs on this album is what I have. I have maybe five more songs in my repertoire.

Are the songs on “Sweet Disguise” songs cumulated from over the years?
Most of them are new, but three of the songs are fairly old.  It’s just an evolutionary step, I don’t look at it as I should have done it before this and this is the next step. I don’t have a timeline. 

Are there any songs on this album that really stand out to you or have a special meaning to you?
“The Love You Find” is probably the most recent song that I have written. It is about a relationship that ended, but points to a relationship that came about because it ended. I like the song “Sweet Disguise,” it is kind of a trippy delving into the nature of reality. I read a lot of books on spirituality so it’s kind of the combination of spirituality and quantum physics and how nothing is actually real and that is what that song points to. 

So did you end up getting a lot of your musician friends to play on the album?
This was definitely a project that I wanted to get out that has me calling all the shots. Obviously I had some great friends play on it, but it was never a band situation. It was either me and drummer or me and a bass player. I could have called a lot of people in to help me up. I recorded with Scott Gadea and it was just something that I wanted to do on my own personally and have him polish it so to say.

How did you get hooked up with the Filter Kings?
Lee is another great songwriter that I wanted to work with, and it kind of comes around full circle for me with the country rock of my youth. It’s the most fun I have had on stage in a few years, because I see where I have come as a player and compare myself now to what my 17-year-old self was.

So is your focus on playing in a band, pushing the solo work, or have you found a balance?
This is the balance that I was ultimately needing, so when it comes to song ideas I can have my own outlet. I can continue to also be a guitar player, which is my first strength and my first love.

Is writing songs harder for you than playing guitar?
Songwriting is still a painful process for me. I can write music all day long, but when it comes to lyrics, that makes me second-guess myself. When you are in a town with guys like Conor, Sarah and Brad it is tough to write a good song.