Biography
In a small community off the Eastern shore of Newfoundland Jason Greeley was aware of every moment in his 31 years. He could tell you it takes but a minute for a nor’ easterly to coax the clothes off the line, a second for silence to disappear at The Old Track cabin any Saturday night, and practically no time at all for a crowd to gather around his Gibson guitar.
In 2004, after 13 years in a local band, he asked for directions off the infamous George Street to a nearby audition. Seven months later he watched in awe as Canada’s most eastern Premier, Danny Williams, temporarily renamed that location “Greeley Street”.
Many roads, miles and moments are etched into a musician’s soul, as Jason Greeley would learn. From over 9,000 hopefuls across Canada he’d place Top 4 on CTV’s Canadian Idol and return home a hero. A wave washed over Jason and when the tides pulled back his debut CD emerged. This album, full of songs with meaningful lyrics and performances, including the title cut, “Live, Love, Sing”, and “Tonite” (co-written with Idol judge, Canadian songstress Sass Jordan) debuted at number one in Newfoundland and stayed put for seven weeks, selling over 12,000 copies independently in two incredible months. But there was so much more to come.
Greeley, sensing the ties between the “kitchen party” music of his native Newfoundland, and the storytelling attributes of country music, made a crucial decision in his career – to move to Alberta, and travel new musical roads. As Greeley says, “the most amazing songs are often 3 minutes long, deep thoughts barely fleeting, and magic sometimes immeasurable.” In 2007, he signed with Royalty Records, the long-time Alberta indie label. Royalty then connected Greeley with two-time CCMA Producer Of The Year, Joel Feeney (Doc Walker, Gil Grand).
Feeney immediately started the song search for Greeley’s album, and developed co-writing partnerships for Greeley. That move proved successful with Greeley writing or co-writing five of the album’s songs, including partnering with Nashville’s Denny Carr (Rocket Girl) on “What I’ve Gotta Do”. Feeney also pulled some strings to get “top drawer” material from the songwriter community, including “Walk Away” from Doc Walker’s Chris Thorsteinson and Dave Wasyliw.
Greeley’s direction is defined by: “You’ve gotta sing what you love, to love what you sing. Live for the moment – that means everything …”. Many will share those moments as Greeley embarks on another phase of his musical journey.