Jason Baker — 31 March 2021 on Rocket Shop Radio Hour

Jason Baker joined host Tom Proctor on ‘Rocket Shop,’ Big Heavy World’s weekly local Vermont music radio hour on 105.9 FM The Radiator. Catch up with him at facebook.com/jbakervtmusic

Jason Baker returned to Rocket Shop opening the show with Everybody Has A Name, the second track from his new solo album The Lighthouse which was released in August. A singer/songwriter from Burlington, Jason began his music career in 2017 and has released four albums since then with folk-roots. Jason spoke about how making music and releasing an album during the pandemic was not easy and impacted different aspects like the song selection process, recording sessions, and plans for live shows in the future. 

People reacted differently to the pandemic but, there was a sense of responsibility to make music that people wanted or needed to hear at that time. Admittedly, Jason wrote a lot of songs about the “heavy, deep, and real” parts of the COVID world. However, after reaching out to colleagues for feedback on his songs, colleague and musician, Tom Smith asked, “are you gonna write any uplifting material for this album?” Sequentially, the second half of The Lighthouse was created which focused on finding the positives and attempting to “divert people from the problems.” This more uplifting section includes songs titled Grow and The Big Hole about the Vermont location.

There were difficulties in the process between having to do masked recording sessions and moving his local songwriting meeting to Zoom. This also meant halting the recording of his radio show with mentor, Rik Palieri, called “Folk Talk: A Guide to Traditional Folk Music, Vol. One.” Needless to say, there was a big learning curve. Jason revealed his process hasn’t changed much because of the new format but that it actually benefited his style, giving props to Zoom and even TikTok for making it possible to make music and art in isolation. Jason then took out his “rescue guitar” to play his second song of the night, We’ve Been Dark Ever Since.

Jason is optimistic about playing some live shows in the coming months at some Vermont State Parks including Omar State Park in June, Button Bay State Park in July, and Grand Isle State Park in August seeing as it is safe to do so. 

“People like stories” and folk music is the epitome of storytelling. Jason went on to define folk music as “all music...if it’s played by people, it’s folk music...because they’re people, because they’re folks.” He finished the night with “A Little Further Down the Road” which gives a hopeful look at what’s ahead while everyone survives their “COVID-19 blues.”

To find more about Jason Baker you can visit his website jbakervt.com and access his album “The Lighthouse” as well as “Folk Talk: A Guide to Traditional Folk Music, Vol. One” anywhere you normally stream music. 

Text by Meaghan Sabino - Photo by James Lockridge