Jason Cade, along with his drummer and bass guitarist, headlined at the Merced Theatre on the evening of May 11 after Scott Patrick, formerly of Cottonwood Creek, opened the show.
Cade performed once before at the Merced Theatre when he opened for the Gatlin Brothers last November.
Born and raised in Santa Maria, California, Cade began singing at age 11 and taught himself to play the guitar at the age of 16, and has been singing and playing guitar for roughly 30 years. His strongest influences for many years have been the late Chris LeDoux, who sang about rodeo riding, George Strait, and more recently, Blake Shelton.
Cade sings from the heart — both original songs and the songs of other country artists. His melodic voice and ability on the guitar results in a concert pleasing to the ear.
Saturday night, his performance included his original song “Sun on my Back,” which he wrote one morning in a cabin in the mountains with his buddy, Buster Hewlett.
He said, “I can never free my mind up enough at home to write songs so my songs are written away from home where I can relax and let things channel through.”
The song was created when Cade and Hewlett were sitting in the cabin. The sunlight was coming in the window, and Cade felt the sun hitting his back.
His buddy was sipping whiskey, but it was a little early for him, 9 a.m., so he opened a beer to keep him company.
The first line he wrote was, “Sun on my back, sipping on a whisky, wondering where I go from here,” followed by “You can’t take back the words you say like you can’t take back what you do today.”
Cade said the theme of the song is that you can’t un-say things you’ve said to your loved ones, but still, “life goes on when you lose it all”.
Cade performed another original song arising out of a recent tragedy.
He said, “Last year, my 20-year-old sister was involved in an accident, and she severed her spine. She’s paralyzed.”
He described the traumatic event as life-changing.
What impressed him the most was his sister’s positive attitude.
The song’s theme and title is “Life is What you Make of It.”
Introducing another original song, “On the Run,” Cade said he had always been intrigued by the romantic idea of being an outlaw — the kind of outlaw who lived 200 to 300 years ago. However, he wisely decided it was safer to write about it.
Cade also performed some of his favorite songs by other artists, such as Garth Brooks’ “The Dance”.
The singer/songwriter currently lives on five acres near Clovis, works in construction as a second job, and has a fiancé, whom he brought with him to the show, and a teenaged daughter.
Eight years ago, Cade began performing professionally for live audiences around the Central Valley and Central Coast.
In 2015, Cade tried out for “The Voice,” NBC’s reality TV singing competition, and he survived two stages.
During an interview with the Times, he explained that he pulled out of “The Voice” because he didn’t feel the contract would be a good fit for him.
In 2016, Cade’s single “Everywhere I Go” earned top 100 out of 1800 entrants in Nash Next, a competition run by a key record label in Nashville, Tennessee.
He is currently working on a CD which he expects to release on July 1.
Describing the CD, Cade said, “I want to bring back the old sound of 1990s country, not the commercialized country music of today.”
For those interested, more information about Jason Cade’s music and his schedule of upcoming performances can be found online at jasoncademusic.com.