Jamie Teachenor

Early life

Jamie Teachenor was born in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. He was raised in Fagus, Missouri, and is the son of Rockabilly Hall of Famer, Jim Teachenor.

Teachenor began singing publicly at 3 years old with his family at Fagus General Baptist Church, and at 7, he started playing the piano there. When Teachenor was 9, he played his first paying gig at a bar in Hayti, Missouri, called the "Idol Hour." At the age of 13, he played a number of shows with a Gospel vocal group he formed called, "The Young Sounds Of Faith." He continued to front various bands throughout his early teens.

He attended school at Twin Rivers School District in Qulin and Broseley, Missouri. After graduating high school, he moved with his father to the small neighboring town of Pollard, Arkansas. He continued to reside there throughout his college years until ultimately moving to Nashville, Tennessee.

Regional Success

At 17 years old, Jamie Teachenor walked into Hays Music Store in Poplar Bluff, Missouri and was encouraged by employee, John DeRosa, to enter the Butler County Fair Talent Show. Reluctant at first, he decided the day before the contest to enter, because the grand prize was the opportunity to record a song and have it played on the radio. After Wednesday night's show, Teachenor finished on top and would return on Saturday for the finals and go on to win first place at the Fair.

On September 4–5, 1997 Teachenor recorded 2 songs, "Baby, You Can Fall In Love With Me" written by himself, and "Country Singer's Dream" written by his father, at WLD Recording Studio near Williamsville, Missouri, with John DeRosa playing guitar, Joey McNew playing drums, and studio owner, Will Dougherty Jr, engineering and playing bass. Teachenor released the 2 songs regionally on his debut EP, "Taken By Storm".

Teachenor received his first radio airplay in September 1997 with "Baby, You Can Fall In Love With Me." The song first played on KOOL 96.7, a Pop/Rock station in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. 92.9 in Malden, Missouri, and 98.9 in Kennett, Missouri, quickly followed suit along with many other area radio stations.

Due to much radio and newspaper support, Teachenor held a concert at Twin Rivers High School on September 30 and drew a crowd of 1487 ticket buyers in Broseley, Missouri, a town of only a couple hundred people.

In October 1997, Linda Goldschmidt introduced Jamie to an agent named Ron Woolman. Woolman brought Teachenor to Caravell Studios in Branson, Missouri to record "Petals," and "I Know You," both co-written with his father, Jim Teachenor, and a Christmas song called "The Little Elves," written by his father. This session, Teachenor was joined by his live bassist, Allen Gallimore, and his father, Jim Teachenor, on acoustic guitar along with DeRosa and McNew with Mike Frazier engineering. The 3 songs from the Branson sessions were added to the 2 from the WLD Recording Studio (Will Dougherty, Jr, Owner/Engineer) sessions for a second EP regionally released by Teachenor.

Teachenor continued to sell out concerts and have heavy regional radio airplay, with some national exposure, keeping the attention of many local newspapers from surrounding towns and counties.

In 1998, just one year after winning the talent show, Teachenor was asked to return to the Butler County Fair, this time as the Fair's headliner. Earlier that year, he began playing regularly with guitarist, Mark McPheeters and drummer Darren Elder, helping further define his sound. Elder had even talked about moving to Nashville with Teachenor, but was tragically killed in an auto accident in the summer of 1999.

Over the next few years, Teachenor played with a number of different bands including, Haywire (formerly called Dirt Road Express), a six piece band with Randy Ogden on bass and Kent Blocker on guitar, and Southern Storm, a band featuring long time friend and guitarist, Mark McPheeters, bassist, Keith Knutsen, and Kelly Keene (son of Joe Keene). Kelly played drums on Jamie's father's self-titled EP recorded at Joe Keene Sound Studio in Kennett, Missouri, in 1988.

Teachenor was given a full ride music scholarship to Oakland City University in Indiana and attended college there in 1999 and 2000. He sang the national anthem for the NCCAA Division 1 National Championship basketball game held at OCU in 1999. While attending the university, he traveled with OCU's student Gospel vocal group, Earthlight. The group recorded an album at Square One Studio in Franklin, Tennessee, in late 2000 that included 2 songs with Teachenor on lead vocals, "Open His Eyes," written by Jamie's father, and "The Lamb, The Lion, And The King," made famous by the Crabb Family. Teachenor left OCU for Nashville after the fall semester of 2000 and consequently, wasn't included on the album's credits or artwork. He continued to play shows with Haywire, Southern Storm and numerous other musician lineups throughout college, when he wasn't on the road with Earthlight.

Nashville

Jamie Teachenor moved to Nashville, TN in 2001 and attended Belmont University for one semester. In 2002, he signed his first publishing deal with Murrah Music, a company owned by Roger Murrah. Jamie left Murrah In 2004 and signed with Giantslayer Music Publishing/S1 Songs, a company owned by Tim Johnson and Rory Lee Feek.

Teachenor sang backing vocals on Blake Shelton's 2003 top 25 single, "Playboys Of The Southwestern World," included on Shelton's Billboard Top 10 Gold album, "The Dreamer," and Billboard Top 10 Platinum album, "Loaded: The Best of Blake Shelton," although he isn't listed in the album credits.

His first ever charting single was Blaine Larsen's hit "How Do You Get That Lonely", a song about teenage suicide he co-wrote with Rory Lee Feek. The single achieved Gold and Platinum sales, reaching number 18 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and number 15 on the R&R (Radio & Records) chart. How Do You Get That Lonely was first included on Blaine Larsen's 2004 album In My High School, and also appeared on the following Larsen release Off to Join the World on BNA Records. Teachenor has co-written many other songs with Feek, including the 2009 single, "To Say Goodbye", and "God Help My Man", which were both recorded by Joey + Rory, and Gwen Sebastian's 2012 single, "Met Him In A Motel Room," named by Abundant Ramblings as one of the "Best Country Singles Of 2012." Trisha Yearwood recorded "Met Him In A Motel Room" and it was released November 17, 2014 on her Top Ten album, "Prizefighter: Hit After Hit."

Murrah Music and Giantslayer/S1 Songs, sold to BMG Chrysalis in 2008. That same year, Teachenor signed a contract with Sony ATV/MGGM, a publishing co-venture headed up by Mark Bright.

Teachenor is a Multi-Platinum selling singer-songwriter whose songs have been recorded by many country music artists including, Blaine Larsen, Kevin Denney, Gretchen Wilson, Montgomery Gentry, Luke Bryan, Trisha Yearwood, Craig Campbell, Trace Adkins, Cledus T. Judd, Joey + Rory, Vince Gill, Billy Yates, Gwen Sebastian and Collin Raye.

On June 16, 2009, The Song Trust, along with Welk Music Group, released a compilation album of various artists singing songs for animal awareness called, "The Dog Singer." The album gained support from many organizations including the Humane Society and Project Pet and features Teachenor singing, "My Bark Is Worse Than My Bite," and "Doggone," two light-hearted songs he co-wrote for the project.

He released a single with fellow Sony/ATV writer, Ben Clark, on August 10, 2010 called "Never Gonna Stand For This," under the band name, Teachenor Clark. The song was co-written by the two of them and recorded on August 1, 2010 at Soundstage Studio in Nashville, TN, with Teachenor on lead vocals and piano, and Clark on acoustic guitar, banjo, and harmony vocals. They were joined by Rex Schnelle on electric guitar, Kevin Grantt on bass, Mark Beckett on drums, and John Wesley Ryles on harmony vocals with Matt Rovey engineering. The single was mixed and mastered by Joe West at Gasoline Studios, The West Barn, in Franklin, TN. The song was viewed over 500,000 times on YouTube in just under two months and received heavy U.S. and International media attention along with national radio airplay, quickly becoming an Amazon Best Selling Single.

He was awarded his first Gold record on September 21, 2010, when Luke Bryan's "Doin' My Thing" was certified Gold. On June 20, 2013, "Doin' My Thing" was certified Platinum, becoming Teachenor's first Platinum record as well. The album was also nominated in 2010 for "Album Of The Year" by the American Country Awards, and included on Bryan's "4 Album Collection," released in 2013, with combined sales totaling over 4 million.

Teachenor has written songs for many chart topping albums. "My Sittin' Window," a song he co-wrote with Kevin Denney, was recorded by Blue Moon Rising for their album "Strange New World." The album reached #1 on the Bluegrass Charts on December 7, 2010.

In the fall of 2011, Teachenor began working on his debut solo album, "The Departure." Session musicians included, Teachenor on piano, B3 and keys, Nir Zidkyahu on drums and percussion, Dave Fowler on bass, JT Corenflos and Mark McPheeters on guitar with Cord Phillips engineering. It was recorded at Gasoline Studios in Franklin, TN, and released on February 28, 2012, on Rock Fiction Records. His debut single, "I Never Know, and his follow-up single, "Free Birds Have Cages,"" received airplay at both Rock and Country Radio, quickly becoming Amazon Best Sellers. Teachenor debuted, "Free Birds Have Cages," on season one, episode 3 of The Joey + Rory Show. His third single, "Burning," saw success internationally on College Rock and AAA radio. Two more tracks from "The Departure," "Coming Down" and "I Don't Wanna Think About That," also went on to become Amazon Best Sellers.

Teachenor also recorded a special mono acoustic version of the single, "Free Birds Have Cages" (previously released on "The Departure") and told a story titled, "How He Would've Wanted It," using a late 1940s era Magnecord tape machine. The song and the story were both featured on a 2012 episode of the first season of Nashville Time Machine.

In September 2012, Jamie signed to Gasohol Music Publishing, a company owned by Joe West and Terry Hicks. He immediately went back into the studio to begin recording his sophomore project, an EP titled, "Waiting Room." The musician lineup stayed the same as "The Departure" with the exception of bassist, Jimmie Lee Sloas, taking the place of Dave Fowler on all tracks except, "Petty Crimes," which was recorded live with Charlie Judge on piano, Danny Radar on acoustic guitar, Mike Payne on electric guitar, Ethan Pilzer on bass and Nir Zidkyahu on drums. "Waiting Room" was released on November 26, 2013, on Gasoline. The EP did well on several independent charts, debuting at number 45 on iTunes Top Rock Songs Chart and number 60 in the UK on Rockadia Magazine's Top 100 Rock New Releases Chart. "Love Somebody" was chosen as the lead-off single from "Waiting Room," and was followed in early 2014 with the single, "I'm Not Over You," continuing to gain ground for Teachenor on Indie radio. "Waiting Room," was Teachenor's first release to become an Amazon Best Selling Album.

In 2013, Teachenor and West formed the band, Lo-Fi, and began recording their debut album. Their first public performance as Lo-Fi was on May 7, 2013, at the Ryman Auditorium, as part of the sold out show, "Honor Thy Song," honoring late Nashville singer-songwriter and producer, Tim Johnson. Lo-Fi, released their debut single, "Vintage Heart" (featuring Vince Gill) on July 14, 2014, receiving heavy radio airplay in the UK (including, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, & England), Germany, Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Canada, Sweden, South Africa, Belgium, France, Austria, Denmark, and Japan, as well as many stations in the US debuting at number 39 as the Hi-Debut on the Indie World Country Chart the week of August 22, 2014, climbing to number 10, and debuting at number 7 on CDBaby's Top Indie Songs Chart, the first week of September. Lo-Fi's debut album, "Lo-Fidelity," was released September 2, 2014, and debuted at number 67 on iTunes New Releases Chart, quickly becoming an Amazon Best Seller. Also, "Vintage Heart" reached number 23 on Japan's Top 40 Chart. Lo-Fi's second single, "When You're Over Me," reached number 18 on Play MPE's Top 20 Download Chart, on September 19, 2014, and number 8 on Play MPE's Top 20 Stream Chart on September 26, 2014.

US Air Force

In the spring of 2015, Jamie was offered the position as lead vocalist for the United States Air Force Academy Band's Wild Blue Country, and is currently serving his country, touring, promoting public relations and raising troop morale through television, radio, and public performances.

The USAF Academy Band released a video in early 2016 featuring Teachenor performing a song called, "Suitcases". According to the video, he composed the song with Matt Jenkins and Bryan Simpson.

The USAF named Teachenor "Outstanding New Public Affairs Musician of the Year" for 2015.

In popular culture

Jamie Teachenor's co-written song "How Do You Get That Lonely" along with the story behind it, was included in the 2011 book release, Chicken Soup For the Soul" Country Music Edition. The song was also in "The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006."

Joey + Rory dedicated a special website, ToSayGoodbye.org, to coincide with the release of their single, "To Say Goodbye," where people could share their personal stories and say goodbye to lost loved ones. Joey Martin Feek uploaded a video to the site of her talking about how she herself didn't get the chance "to say goodbye" to her brother Justin, who died in a car crash in the summer of 1994. Additionally, Joey + Rory's MySpace featured an edited version of the single, which included a spoken intro from Joey describing her emotional connection to the song.

His television appearances include; ABC's Good Morning America, The CBS Early Show, Fox News Channel's Fox & Friends, CNN, MSNBC, The Joey + Rory Show on RFD TV, CMT, GAC, Blue Highways Television, PBS, and multiple appearances on the Grand Ole Opry, at both the Opry House and the historic Ryman Auditorium.

Teachenor and his music has been featured multiple times in Billboard Magazine, Rolling Stone, Country Weekly, Music Row Magazine, Radio & Records Magazine (R&R), USA Today, People Magazine, Lucianne.com, MTV.com, GreatIndieMusic.com, VH1.com, Waves.com, Foxnation.com, The Boot, Roughstock, CMT.com, GlennBeck.com, MyKindOfCountry.com, MACS London Magazine, and many other magazines, newspapers, websites, blogs and other publications, both nationally and internationally. He was a featured artist in the 2013 Tennessee Vacation Guide.

Teachenor appeared in the 2009 Joey + Rory music video "Play The Song," from the duo's debut album, "The Life Of A Song," and also in Collin Raye's 2012 music video for his single, "Never Gonna Stand For This," a song Teachenor co-wrote with Ben Clark.

In 2012, REM Beverage company created the Stand Strong energy drink specifically to support the fund raising efforts of "Wish For Our Heroes," a non-profit organization that grants wishes to military families. The Stand Strong beverage can design featured lyrics from "Never Gonna Stand For This" as a design base and background for the Stand Strong USA logo.

Teachenor was the featured performer at the 2012 "Miss Teen America" Pageant.

He was commissioned Kentucky Colonel in 2012 by Kentucky Governor, Steven Beshear.

2013 World Series Champion and MLB shortstop, Stephen Drew, used Craig Campbell's version of Teachenor's song, "Growin' Up Down South," as his official walk up song while playing for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

In 2013, Jamie was a special guest on the live radio broadcast of Jerry Lee Lewis's intimate Beale Street concert, Up Close And Personal. The show aired on Sirius XM's Outlaw Country. He was asked to come back to Memphis later that year as the sole performer for Jerry Lee's private 78th birthday party.

His songs have been featured in a number of films and television shows, notably One Angry Man (2010) and Season of a Lifetime (2011).

On January 10, 2014, Teachenor performed at the International Rock-A-Billy Hall Of Fame and Museum in Jackson, Tennessee, as a part of his father, Jim Teachenor's, Hall Of Fame induction ceremony.

On Sunday, November 15, 2015, Teachenor was chosen to represent all branches of the US military by singing the National Anthem at the Denver Broncos 'Salute to Service' game against the Kansas City Chiefs, broadcast nationally on CBS and sponsored by USAA. During the performance at Sports Authority Field at Mile High, there was a flyover by two USAF F-16 Falcon fighter jets in formation. This is the game in which Peyton Manning broke the NFL's All-Time Passing Record.

Personal life

Teachenor is married to novelist-author, Jen Teachenor, and is also the son of Rockabilly Hall Of Famer, Jim Teachenor.

Singles

Albums

Early Regional EP's

Other Contributions