Jason Baker — 24 January 2024 on Rocket Shop Radio Hour

Monochrome photo by Ross Mickel

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

Text by Keagan Lafferty

“The funny thing is, there's no limit to where inspiration can come from for a song,” said Jason Baker as he joined us for a live performance and interview on Rocket Shop. “Anything can inspire us. I was driving to work and I saw a bus. It was an old school bus painted light blue, and it was in the back of this overgrown field. And I looked at it and something struck me about it, like, how did it get back there? It's all overgrown. I was driving somewhere else for work, just a few days later, and I saw another one. Something is telling me to write about a blue bus. So I wrote a song. I don't know what the song means. It's not necessary. But I can barely play it, it's so emotional. And I don't know why.”

Jason Baker’s singer-songwriter style is rooted in traditional American folk and blues, with lyrics focused on modern topics and viewpoints, including political activism. This evening, he wore a dark gray button up and khakis, matching his short hair as he spoke about small details that he notices and the way that he experiences the world. His speech is quick and straight to the point, while also employing a unique level of storytelling that captures the audience as he takes us through his creative process.

Baker’s voice is deep and soulful, and his music has been compared to Woody Guthrie, Leonard Cohen, and Gordon Lightfoot. “People would be like, ‘your stuff sounds like it's 100 years old,’” said Baker.

Baker delved into songwriting in 2017, with recording beginning in 2018. He considers himself a songwriter first, and a performer and musician second. “Performing is interesting to me and learning how to do it has been fascinating,” said Baker. “Learning all the other things that you have to learn, that you don't want to learn, has also been fascinating; how to do social media, how to edit videos, how to take pictures; things that have nothing to do with writing a song.”

Baker claims that songwriting was his “midlife crisis,” benefitting him emotionally, mentally, and even physically. His process usually begins with words, but sometimes musical ideas evolve simultaneously. “I will have music that's going through my head and I've been doodling with, and if it happens to be at the same time [as the lyrics], I usually think there must be a reason,” said Baker. “And I will try to squish them together. And sometimes it works.”

Political issues are a central part of Baker’s songwriting, with topics ranging from war to equality and any relevant modern issues. “A lot of the stuff that goes on, it's hard to ignore. So that's why I write songs about it,” said Baker. “Plus, I don't think anyone's really interested in my love life that much.”

However, Baker also reflected on how personal experiences unintentionally show themselves in his writing. “If [the songs] are more personal, emotional, or about personal liberation, I frequently don't recognize what I've written until I've recorded it and put it out,” said Baker. “Turns out they're about me, not about someone else. But I didn't know it until I finished the song and put it out and played them live. I was like, ‘oh, that's about me.’ Epiphany moment.

Despite being in his fifties, Baker says his songwriting development is in the same place as many people in their twenties, making it difficult to be viewed as an emerging artist. He struggles the most with putting lyrics and music together. “I’ve played guitar since I was fourteen, I can make music up all day long,” said Baker. “But putting lyrics and music together is a different thing.” 

Baker’s writing has improved quickly since he began. “I've always enjoyed good poetry, but I was always stopping myself,” said Baker. “For the longest time writing was a torturous experience, including in school; I was the person that took forever just to write a page. And now I found that after writing so many songs, my writing has improved. And my ability to be clear in my communication has improved, which is cool.”

When Baker began writing, he tried to write as many songs as possible about any topic to get in the flow. “I'm going to write songs, I'm going to fail miserably at it,” said Baker. “And then admit failure and walk away. And it worked out. I wrote 100 songs [in 2017]. And most of them were terrible.” 

Recently, as Baker has honed his craft more, he’s trying to focus more on finding good ideas for songs. “Instead of just jumping in and writing anything, I'm looking for the good idea, a real good idea for a song, or something I really need to say,” said Baker. 

Baker has attended songwriting retreats conducted by Dr. Williams in recent years, working to collaborate and workshop songs with a community of other writers. “Those retreats also gave me an opportunity to do something I hadn't done, which was co writing songs with people. It ended up being a great experience and it was a lot better than I thought it would be.”

Direct collaborations initially posed a challenge to Baker; “I just was like, man, I'm a socially awkward person. I can't see how this would work,” said Baker. “And then I did it. And it was fun. And it wasn't hard.”

Though he was hesitant to collaborate at first, Baker emphasized the influence it has had in his songwriting. “You're afraid of something and then you realize, ‘oh, this isn't bad at all.’ You realize that was actually a really positive thing,” said Baker. “I should have done this a long time ago.”

Baker plays guitar and banjo. He completed a year-long apprenticeship with Rik Paleri, local musician and songwriter. Paleri taught Baker how to play the long neck banjo invented by Pete Seeger, as well as Seeger’s style of banjo playing. Seeger initially learned the plectrum banjo, a four string instrument common in dixieland and jazz music.

Seeger then played the traditional five string banjo, but felt limited by the construction of existing banjos. He wanted to play in different keys and expand his style beyond old time music, so he added three frets to his own banjo and modified the old time stroke by combining fingerpicking and strumming. “[Seeger] expanded the range of the banjo itself and that's the main reason for it; to allow you to sing in different keys,” said Baker. “It's much more of a folk singer’s banjo in that regard.”

Baker has released an impressive amount of music since he began recording in 2018. He released four albums, including two “pandemic albums,” The Lighthouse and Folk Talk. Folk Talk was released in October of 2020 in collaboration with Paleri, whom Baker does a radio show with that is broadcast on The Folk Music Notebook. 

Baker and Paleri created a group called the Folk Talk Trio, which has since disbanded due to busy individual schedules. The trio includes Patti Shannon, a CMA award winning bassist and singer. They released an EP in October of 2021 called Live At The Underground, recorded at a studio in Randolph, Vermont.

Since 2020, Baker has switched to releasing EPs instead of full length albums after receiving advice from a songwriting coach. “He was just saying, ‘you're writing a lot of good material, but no one's hearing it. Because when it's on an album who's no one's gonna listen to it, because you're not known,’” said Baker. “[I’m] getting to be comfortable with not being known and workshopping songs, and picking the cream of the crop, and leaving other things, really thinking about what I want to put out there.”

The first song that Baker performed on Rocket Shop was “Bigotry Blues,” and is off his first EP, Liberty, released in October of 2021. The song, played on banjo, has a spooky bluesy feel, with mouth trumpet solos (where one makes trumpet noises with their mouth). The lyrics call out politicians for their ignorant and corrupt attitudes and actions. The chorus utilizes a clever play on words, repeating the line “we did not see (nazi) it coming,” exposing politicians for their unjust decisions rooted in a desire for power.

Baker’s next song was the title track off his second EP released in April of 2022, called The Dream of Peace. The song is inspired by the 2022 Russian invasion on Ukraine, in which the largest airplane in the world was destroyed. The plane initially hauled Soviet space shuttles, but in the last 20 years of its life, it did humanitarian missions, supplying food and medicine to places in crisis. The plane was named Maria, meaning “dream” in Ukrainian, and that’s exactly what the plane stood for. “People would see it, and they would have hope,” said Baker. “And I thought it was a shame that it was destroyed.”

“The Dream of Peace,” played on acoustic guitar, is slow and sweet, reflecting on this tragic story while emphasizing the feeling of hope that the plane gave people. The lyrics utilize visual elements that show a beautiful world, and the soft guitar wonderfully accompanies the heartening lyrics. “If we dream a dream of peace, we can make that dream come true,” sings Baker.

Baker’s next song, “It Doesn’t Go Away,” is off his third EP called I Have Come To Set You Free, released in October of 2022. “The Dream Of Peace was a really positive upbeat album. It was released in the spring,” said Baker. “So naturally, in the fall of 2022, I released this album of real downers.” I Have Come To Set You Free highlights social political issues, some that are brutal and difficult to understand or think about.

“It Doesn’t Go Away” was the runner up for the Songs for Social Change contest in 2022, put on by the Renaissance Artists and Writers Association. The song uses acoustic guitar and harmonica to create a melancholy atmosphere, with the lyrics reflecting on school shootings and revealing the evil that lies in humanity. “The song really struck me as being important to say,” said Baker.

Baker’s most recent project 10,000 Miles Away, was released in October of 2023 as a five song EP of traditional folk songs with original lyrics played on the longneck banjo. “The whole EP is dedicated to writing a song that matters,” said Baker. His last song that performed on Rocket Shop reflects that theme.

“Ally (The Ballad of Laurie Carlton)” tells the story of a woman who was shot for flying a rainbow pride flag outside of her store. “I want people to remember her name,” said Baker. The song is played on banjo, and the melody mirrors the traditional song “You Are My Sunshine.” 

As Baker continues to write and work toward future projects, he wants to prioritize booking more gigs and live performance opportunities. Baker is sending messages in his music that the world needs to hear, giving a feeling of peace to an otherwise hectic time while motivating crucial social change.