Photo courtesy of Jess Tomlins.
Trussville native Jackson Capps moved to Nashville in 2018 to pursue a career in music. He released two singles in 2020.
For Jackson Capps, it all started with the knock on a door.
Now, he’s trying to kick that door down.
When he was 12 years old, Capps had backstage passes to the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tenn., where country music legend Marty Stuart was performing. The two had met previously at a clothier in Nashville, so Capps knocked on his dressing room door. Stuart remembered him, and he invited Capps on stage to perform.
“That’s kind of when I knew that music is what I could do for the rest of my life,” Capps said. “At the age of 12, I was real nervous but usually when I start performing and singing, all that just goes away and I can be in the song. It was a lot of fun once I got over being nervous.”
Capps grew up on old country music, blues and rockabilly. He received his first guitar when he was 8.
“I never stopped from there,” said Capps, who is from Trussville. “I had a love for music just from growing up being around it.”
Capps grew up on George Jones, Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard. As he got older he developed a love for artists such as Keith Whitley and Vern Gosdin.
“A lot of these old guys who paved the way for people like me,” Capps said. “I still listen to their music daily. I could name hundreds of them. Those are some of the main ones. I like songs with a substance and purpose in them and that make you feel something.”
Capps moved from Trussville to Nashville in January 2018, when he was still 17. He finished his senior year at Hewitt-Trussville High School early. He released a five-song EP in 2018, including a song he wrote titled “The Night Is Gonna Find Us.” He performs four times per week with his band in downtown Nashville and writes with other songwriters often.
“That’s probably one of the best things I could have asked for,” Capps said. “I’ve got such a great band. I feel like we’re a family. They’re some of my best friends. We all work toward the same goal, and we’re all here to help each other. They help me. We all write together. That’s definitely been a big part of my music since I came to town and formed a band.”
Capps constantly enters ideas for song lyrics into his iPhone. He often starts with a melody and then sings along to it. He and co-writers bounce ideas off each other. Sometimes a song can take a few hours to finish, sometimes several weeks.
“I think consistency is what makes that,” Capps said. “You get really invested in a song once you start writing it, and all you really want for it is to be the best it can be. Sometimes that means not rushing it, taking your time on it.”
In 2020, Capps released two singles, “Yesterday’s Makeup” and “Alabama Gone.” He wrote both with Jerry Salley and Shane Thompson. For “Yesterday’s Makeup,” Thompson had the initial idea for the relationship-focused song, and as the trio wrote, Capps knew it was one to record.
“That was a good feeling to have,” he said. “I love the song.”
For “Alabama Gone,” about a somewhat unhealthy relationship in which the girl has left, Capps said the idea was to make it a “rocking, bluegrassy” type song.
“I think it’s good to have an Alabama song,” he said. “I grew up in Alabama my whole life. That’s what I wanted to do.”
Capps said his current favorite artists are Sturgill Simpson, Chris Stapleton and Jason Isbell. He plans to continue following his dream, to one day be the one having his dressing room door knocked on.
“Everything is pretty solid right now,” he said. “We’re just trying to grind as much as we can, write music and record good songs. We’ve got some new songs I think the fans are really going to love, and people who support me and my band are really going to enjoy.”
