J.R. Ward’s New Video Hits Hard With Nostalgia From Lost Music Venues
Almost everyone knows of a music venue that has been lost in the past year due to COVID-19. For me, we lost The Mill in Iowa City as well as Blue Moose. These are spots where I first saw acts like Whiskey Myers, The Steel Woods, Sarah Shook, The Turnpike Troubadours, and many other unforgettable bands. J.R. reach out to us about his new song, “If This Place Shuts Down” and all of those memories came back.
I got the chance to chat with J.R. the other night about wrestling, playing shows in Florida, and most importantly how his new song came to be.
“I got home late night from a gig back in December. I was laying in bed scrolling through Twitter and saw Kendell Marvel retweeted something from Ohio Craft Brewers. One of the items was a co-write with him. I usually don’t write with other people but thought this was a unique opportunity to at least ask some questions to one of the best to do it.” Well… J.R. bid 100 bucks towards the co-write and won. For those who don’t know, Kendell Marvel is a well known song writer who has written songs for artists from George Straight to Jake Owen, Gary Allen to Jamey Johnson. To say the least, the late night decision landed J.R. in a really awesome opportunity.
The idea of the song came from J.R. seeing all the bars and music venues closing down throughout 2020. “There’s a few bars that I use to play at that didn’t make it out of 2020, and I remember looking at Billboard magazine when they had a list of venues that were closed for good and it tore me up a bit. I just kept seeing memories of some of these places where people got together to take part in some of my favorite parts of life, and that’s a night out with friends listening to music and enjoying each other’s company. When I told Kendell my idea, he ran with it. He had the title and melody almost immediately. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but he was a pro and very generous with his time. I love what we came up with and am very proud of the song.”
Stay up to date on everything J.R. is doing on his website:
