Jesse Hart

Jesse Hart describes his music as a kind of 80’s dance mixed with some modern sounds. After listening to his EP Make It Mine, I can hear the slight influences of the The Cars, Fleetwood Mac, and some Rick Springfield although the songs and melodies sound much more 50’s and 60’s early rock. Perhaps it was the I, VI, IV, V chord progressions, but take away some of the production elements, and songs like Rain, Make It Mine, and Hello could just as easily be sandwiched between Buddy Holly, Sam Cooke, or any early Phil Spector act. In a time where Bruno Mars, Adele, and Raphael Saadiq are honing into early rock and Doo-Wop, this is could be an extremely fresh sound to be undertaking and something there is far too little of in artists around Utah. I truly loved this sound and the songs and added him to my short list of must hear local songs.

I had the privilege of watching Jesse live the other night. He was using a drum machine and loop pedal as part of his show. When these are used right they can add a fun element of “one man band” to the show. When done wrong they can be a strong distraction to the artist and their music. Jesse, has a lot of charisma, stage presence, voice and guitar skills but; several false starts did affect the pace of the show and changed a short 20-35 minutes set into a 45 minute set worth of 30 minute material. Everyone can have an off night, but from some of the stage banter this wasn’t the first time this occurred during a show. Artists like KT Tunstall and local artist Allred are great people to emulate when it comes to the use of these affects, but even with Allred, I've seen it slow the pace of his set. Locked inside a room with several hours of practice so it becomes second nature (something akin to mastering Mike Tysons Punch Out), this could be the sweet topping to an already delicious sound. Jesse is super cool and these songs are way catchy and pleasing to the ears. Even though the 50’s sound was likely not intentional, I would love to see Jesse wade deeper into these waters.