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Jim Jacobs wins country album of the year at the SSIMAs 1045 Brant County Hwy 54 Ohsweken 519-770-3628
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Jim Jacobs is a relative newcomer to the country music industry and he has already won an award on his debut album, That’s The Way It Goes. He walked away with the Country Music Album of the Year at the Summer Solstice Indigenous Music Awards at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on June 6 and his songs are getting air time all over the world. This is less than a year after the album was first released in September 2022. “It’s a pretty good feeling,” Jacobs said in an interview while he was stationed in Ontario’s far north for a career day presentation at Webequie First Nation. A heavy equipment operator, Jacobs splits his time between his union job and country music career, with hopes to focus solely on his music career one day. Jacobs was born in Hagersville and raised in Smoothtown, a nickname for a section of the Six Nations reserve. Like many kids on Six Nations in the 60s, 70s and 80s, he grew up listening to country legends like Merle Haggard, George Jones, Waylon Jennings
Jacobs was born in Hagersville and raised in Smoothtown, a nickSUBMITTED name for a section of the Six Nations reserve.
and Conway Twitty, to name a few. In high school, he started learning how to play guitar, while he was also heavily into sports. He attended university in the United States on a football scholarship and played semi-pro in Buffalo before injuries ended his sports career early. He took up his love of writing and performing country music songs in the style of the legends he’s looked up to and made his way to Nashville, where he
met legendary steel guitar player Robby Turner, who would eventually become a lifelong friend and producer of his debut album. After living in Nashville for many years, Jacobs came back to Six Nations in 2011 to help his mom Isabel after she was diagnosed with cancer. She passed away in 2014. Jacobs dedicated the award to his mom during his acceptance speech at the awards show. After his mom died, he
said, he was on a mission to pursue his country music career. Six years ago, he told Turner he was finally ready to record an album. It was finished in November 2021 with a release party at The Troubadour in Nashville last September. He also held a release party at The Gathering Place on Six Nations in December. Since the release, his single Over For Good has reached number two on the Canadian Indy Countdown and number three on the Indigenous Music Countdown. It’s also reached the top 10 on independent charts in Australia and the United Kingdom. “It’s kind of getting out there, which I’m happy to see,” said Jacobs. “I’m happy to see there’s still lots of fans of traditional country music out there." He has always had a love for traditional country music. “I play some blues stuff but my love has always been country. Jacobs describes traditional country as having lots of steel guitar and harmonized vocals. “You can just kinda tell a honky tonk song,” he said. “The new stuff has the pop and rap all mixed into it.” His producer, Robby, actually worked with the legendary Highwaymen, who
most know was composed of Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson, and are considered pioneers of the “outlaw country” subgenre. “He knows exactly what I wanted to sound like from the artists that I love,” said Jacobs. “He had the best studio musicians play on it so I was really grateful for that. I play guitar but I’m not a studio guy that can throw their heart and soul into the song.” His songs are all about real-life experiences. “That’s what county music has always been about to me, like, real story-telling.” Jacobs also covered a few songs from a few Six Nations artists in his album, including Murray Porter’s “In The Mood.” “I know Murray was pretty happy with the rendition of the song he did.” More booking opportunities are coming his way and he’ll be hitting the festival circuit this summer. "It’s kind of a challenging time to get into the scene.” Jacobs will be performing at the Six Nations Fall Fair on Sept. 9 for any local fans who want to come see him. His album is available on all digital platforms and his Instagram handle is @ JimJacobs57. PM42686517