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01/19/2015

Jarrod Lawson: Suddenly a Soul star – How is he handling breaking world-wide? – OMN the Mag

Cover photo for OMN the Magazine / Photo by Anthony Pidgeon

Photo by Anthony Pidgeon

BY TOM D'ANTONI // 

Jarrod Lawson hasn’t exactly been lying in the weeds, waiting for the perfect moment to leap out and become a star – it just seems that way. For years, he was “that guy’. You know, the unassuming-looking dude behind the keyboards, the one with that voice, the one you don’t know anything about.

He did seem like he fronted a band. He plays in SoulMates with Jay Bird Koder and Reinhardt Melz, but he’s not the front man. He has played with Liv Warfield – with lots of people in lots of situations.

When you saw him and heard him, you always thought, “How can that voice be coming out of this guy?” The voice of Soul Music. The Soul of Soul Music.

When he released his album, Jarrod Lawson, all that changed – not so much at home, but in the UK, and Europe. He was a hit. A big hit. He’s getting ready to tour Japan and Indonesia in March and to follow it up with a tour of Europe in April.

The album is soulful and funky, of course, but what we didn’t expect was the level of spirituality and social consciousness in it. Lawson will be taking his band from Portland with him. They are Christopher Friesen (Bass), Joshua Corry (Drums), Chance Hayden (Guitar), Tahirah Memory (BG Vox), Molly Foote (BG Vox) and Farnell Newton (Flugel Horn).

Lawson grew up in Molalla and, sometimes, he looks it. Down to earth, is what I mean. Let’s find out how he’s handling fame:

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