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The Nash New Artist Interview – Jet Jurgensmeyer
Jet Jurgensmeyer’s first taste of performing happened at the restaurant his parents owned in Nashville, Tennessee when he was only a toddler. “I started getting on stage when I was three there and just kind of fell in love with entertaining,” he tells us. His parents were friends of the Mandrell sister’s mother, Mary Mandrell who suggested acting to the family due to Jurgensmeyer’s knack for putting on a show. “When I was four, they hooked us up with a friend of theirs who’s an agent, and I’ve been acting ever since,” he explains.
At 16 years old, Jurgensmeyer balances acting, singing, and songwriting having starred in shows like Last Man Standing, and Ozark, doing voice work for animated Disney Jr. shows like T.O.T.S and Puppy Dog Pals, and he’s currently in the process of writing songs for his upcoming album. “It’s not as hard as you would think because they’re all I’ve ever known,” he says. “I grew up around the entertainment industry being in Nashville, you’re gonna be involved in it some way, shape, or form, and mine was just being on stage. Balancing them is all I’ve ever known. They definitely have their differences but they’re also very similar.”
Despite his busy schedule and atypical lifestyle for someone so young, Jurgensmeyer beams about the normal life he’s able to maintain. Alongside his parents, he bounces between Nashville, California, and his farm in Missouri where he rides horses, spends time with family, and experiences a true childhood.
When it comes to music, Jurgensmeyer grew up surrounded by country music due to living in the mecca of the genre. His mom is a George Strait superfan so naturally, he is heavily influenced by Strait’s commanding presence and says he’s seen him live so many times he can’t even count. “I know his setlist,” he exclaims.
He’s also inspired by singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran who he met at Bridgestone Arena. Because of Sheeran’s talent on stage as a solo act with a single guitar, Jurgensmeyer started using a loop pedal similar to how Sheeran uses one during his live shows. Overall, the young artist is inspired by and takes influences from anything he can find. “My family and my whole philosophy is good music is good music, so it doesn’t really matter what the genre is,” he says.
His debut album came out in June of 2019. It was a 10-song project and at the time, Jurgensmeyer was only 14. When he reflects on that time of his life all he can manage to get out is the word, “Stressful.” He goes on to say, “I’ve grown up looking at the people I’ve performed for, but these songs are getting listened to by people all over the world and that’s a strange thought to wrap your head around.”
When his debut album came out, he only had one writing credit on the whole thing. He now finds utmost importance in having a hand on all his songs. “That’s what I’m most excited about for this next album that’s coming out: the relatability of the songs,” he tells us. “I told my parents, and I told my producer and everyone around me, I said I want to be a writer on all my music from here on out.” For the next record, his goal is to have everyone who listens be able to relate to at least one of the songs; he desires that his listeners feel less alone.
His latest single “Compassion” is a relevant track about having more empathy towards others. The writing session for the song started out as banter between Jurgensmeyer and his two co-writers, Stefanie Joyce and Sky Corbin, which turned into an introspective conversation about the current state of humanity. “The idea of the world going through a rough patch got brought up and we were just kinda talking about things the world could use more of and compassion was one of those things,” he explains. “This is a song everyone can relate to.”
They wrote the song in Corbin’s old apartment complex where they had gotten kicked out but managed to sneak back into a dark room to finish the session and the track in one go. “We risked getting thrown out again to finish the song,” he exclaims through a laugh.
The music video for “Compassion” was done by the Riker Brothers, a duo Jurgensmeyer has worked with in the past, and features video clips of his friends as well as Joyce, one of the writers on the song. They’re all seen holding signs with the title of the song written across them. “We just had fun. That’s the main thing. We’ve had fun with every video and this one was no different.”
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