DAVE JORGENSON

Dave Jorgenson is no newcomer to country music.  From a young age he has been slinging a guitar strap and entertaining audiences with songs that reflect his personal life and the real world of Midwestern America.  In Dave’s early years, he was exposed to every type of music by his teenage friends, and through his participation as a sax player in his high school band, but his heart was always lured back to the songs that were a part of the rural, blue-collar life he lived.  Dave is country.

Now, what happened between picking up his dad’s guitar at age seven and playing on stages in front of thousands is no short story….

Dave was raised in the small town of Perry, Kansas, near the nation’s shortest highway (3/8 mile).  His natural ability to sing was discovered as a youth.  Encouraged by his friends and family, he began to feel very comfortable behind a microphone with his guitar, but it wasn’t until he graduated high school that he realized the potential of his voice and the songs he had begun to write.  Performing those songs in front of audiences gave Dave fulfillment, and would form a dream that had to be followed.

Right out of high school, he decided to make his first bold move toward proving himself as a respected singer/songwriter by entering the GMC/True Value Country Showdown.  His rich vocals and easygoing manner made an immediate impression on both music fans and other musicians. Dave did not take top honors at his first competition, but he turned the heads of the band that did win.  ‘Rio’ was already touring dance hall circuits in the Midwest and Rockies when they became acquainted with Dave that night.  Following the competition, Dave formed the Kawboys with some of his high school friends and began performing in clubs and on stages around NE Kansas. After a year of experience as the lead vocalist for the Kawboys, he again entered the GMC/True Value Country Showdown, and this time went all the way to the Kansas finals.

Not long after that, Rio asked Dave to join them as lead vocalist and stand front and center in what would become the opening act for such country music greats as Chris LeDoux, Patti Loveless and Lisa Brokop.  During his two-year ride with Rio, he began to see some of the songs he had written becoming favorites with the audiences.  This inspired him to become a prolific songwriter, composing hundreds of songs over the years.

The lush green hills in Kansas are a wonderful place for inspiration, but Dave knew he would have to give up his homestead to gain notoriety. Although Nashville was known as a country music hotbed, he decided to move to Austin.  The honkytonks and rustic atmosphere were more suitable to Dave’s music and personality than the lasers, strobes and line dances that were gripping the country music scene at the time.

Dave and two fellow ‘RIOnians’ packed up, headed south and reformed as a band that would become ‘Big Iron’.  Big Iron found themselves traveling back in time, playing songs reminiscent of Ray Price, Buck Owens, Marty Robbins, Merle Haggard and Bob Wills.  Big Iron would play Central Texas for nearly four years, frequenting places like “The Broken Spoke”, home of many country music legends. Then came another change for Dave.

Dave met Benny Mcarthur of “The Ace In the Hole Band”, guitarist for George Strait.  Not only did Benny encourage him, but he would also be the producer of Dave’s first solo album, “Then and Now.”   Dave and Benny called upon some of Texas’ greatest musicians to get that honkytonk sound Dave has always loved. His second studio CD titled “We Have A Winner”, co-produced by Dave and Texas music legend Tommy Detamore, continued his unique, hard driving honkytonk sound, and helped to further establish him as a legitimate singer/songwriting force. As the miles pile up, so do the experiences, like doing shows with Mark Chesnutt, Kevin Fowler, The Bellamy Brothers, Jason Boland and The Stragglers, Merle Haggard, Mo Bandy, Perfect Stranger and Radney Foster, to name a few. Dave’s travels have taken him around the globe to Melbourne, Australia, Shenzhen, China, Catalonia, Spain, Pontivy, France, and all over the Midwest.

It’s been no short journey, but Dave’s music is a true reflection of the kind of person he is, and what country is all about. He will be supporting his music with a cast of band members that carry his unique Texas country music to dance halls anywhere and everywhere.