Aaron Lee Tasjan (born August 24, 1986) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Tasjan is reported to have his own distinct version of "indie folk grit." Garret Woodward of the

Smoky Mountain News ''Smoky Mountain News'' is a free weekly newspaper based in Waynesville, North Carolina that is distributed in Haywood, Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional ch ...

says, "Tasjan's words are soaked in spilled whiskey, misunderstood tears and dusty memories. Each number seeps into the cracks of your troubled soul."

Biography

Tasjan was born in

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington ( Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...

. His family moved to

San Juan Capistrano, California San Juan Capistrano (Spanish for "St. John of Capistrano") is a city in Orange County, California, located along the Orange Coast. The population was 34,593 at the 2010 census. San Juan Capistrano was founded by the Spanish in 1776, when St. ...

when he was ten years old, then later moved to

New Albany, Ohio New Albany is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, located northeast of the state capital of Columbus. Most of the city is located in Franklin County and a small portion extends into adjacent Licking County. New Albany had a population of 10,825 ...

, about 25 minutes northeast of

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

. Both of Tasjan's parents are musicians, but neither played professionally. Tasjan taught himself to play guitar at age 11 by learning

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...

songs. By age 16 Tasjan had performed with

Peter Yarrow Peter Yarrow (born May 31, 1938) is an American singer and songwriter who found fame for being in the 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary. Yarrow co-wrote (with Leonard Lipton) one of the group's best known hits, " Puff, the Magic Dragon". H ...

and been the recipient of the Outstanding Guitarist Award in the

Essentially Ellington Competition The Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival is an annual high school jazz festival and competition that takes place every May at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. The festival is aimed at encouraging young musician ...

Jazz at Lincoln Center Jazz at Lincoln Center is part of Lincoln Center in New York City. The organization was founded in 1987 and opened at Time Warner Center in October 2004. Wynton Marsalis is the artistic director and the leader of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orches ...

, New York City. He was offered a full scholarship to the

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

following his graduation from New Albany High School, but decided instead to move to

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York in 2006. In New York, Tasjan met

Justin Tranter Justin Drew Tranter (born June 16, 1980) is an American songwriter, singer, and activist. Frequently co-writing with Julia Michaels, Tranter has written songs for artists such as Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani, Linkin Park, Kelly Clarkson, Selena ...

, Cole Whittle, and Dan Crean and formed the band Semi Precious Weapons. Tasjan's work with SPW caught the eye of Drivin' N' Cryin's

Kevn Kinney Kevin Kinney, known professionally as Kevn Kinney (born March 12, 1961),"The Baseball Project at Wux ...

, who later invited Tasjan to tour with him as an opening act and guitar player. He also mentored Tasjan, advising him that a musician never has to be defined by one sound or genre. This principle has helped shape Tasjan's work.

Tony Visconti Anthony Edward Visconti (born April 24, 1944) is an American record producer, musician and singer. Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of performers. His first hit single was T. Rex's " Ride a White Swan" in 1970, the first of man ...

produced SPW's debut album, ''We Love You,'' and they signed with

Razor & Tie Records Razor & Tie was an American entertainment company that consisted of a record label and a music publishing company. It was established in 1990 by Craig Balsam and Cliff Chenfeld. Based in New York City (with additional offices in Los Angeles an ...

. Shortly thereafter, Tasjan left SPW and formed his own band, The Madison Square Gardeners, which was described by ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

'' as, "The best NYC has to offer." Tasjan remained with them for three years, during which time they recorded one full-length album and 3 EPs. In 2013 Tasjan moved to

Nashville, TN Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

to focus on songwriting and a solo career. He has since released 2 EPs, "Crooked River Burning" and "Telling Stories to the Wall". Tasjan's debut full-length effort, ''In the Blazes'', was released on October 6, 2015, and his follow-up, ''Silver Tears'', was released October 28, 2016.

Collaborations

Tasjan linked up with rock poet—and former Semi Precious Weapons manager—BP Fallon to write the song ''I Believe in Elvis Presley,'' produced by

Jack White John Anthony White (; born July 9, 1975), commonly known as Jack White, is an American musician, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the duo the White Stripes. White has enjoyed consistent critical and popular success and is widely c ...

, and released on the

Third Man Records Third Man Records is an eclectic, vinyl-focused independent record label founded and owned by Jack White, Ben Blackwell and Ben Swank. The company operates out of three locations—Nashville, Tennessee, Detroit, Michigan, and Soho, London—with ...

label. The pair also collaborated with

Sean Lennon is an American–British musician, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. He is the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and half-brother to Julian Lennon. Over the course of his career, he has been a member of the bands Cibo Matto, The ...

and

Irina Lazareanu Irina ( Cyrillic: Ирина) is a feminine given name of Ancient Greek origin, commonly borne by followers of the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is derived from Eirene (Ancient Greek: Εἰρήνη), an ancient Greek goddess, personification of p ...

in their art-rock band, Operation Juliet. In 2013 Fallon and Tasjan formed another project, BP Fallon & The Bandits, which included

Clem Burke Clement Burke (born Clement Anthony Bozewski; November 24, 1954) is an American musician who is best known as the drummer for the band Blondie from 1975, shortly after the band formed, throughout the band's entire career. He also played drums f ...

Ian McLagan Ian Patrick McLagan (; 12 May 1945 – 3 December 2014) was an English keyboardist, best known as a member of the rock bands Small Faces and Faces. He also collaborated with the Rolling Stones and led his own band from the late 1970s. He was in ...

, and

Nigel Harrison Nigel Harrison (born 24 April 1951) is an English musician. Harrison spent several years as the bassist of the American rock band Blondie during the 1970s and 1980s. Life & career Harrison grew up in Princes Risborough, a small town in the ...

. Texas Country superstar

Pat Green Patrick Craven Green (born April 5, 1972) is an American Texas Country artist. Active since 1995, he has recorded a total of seven studio albums, including several independent works, three for Republic Records and two for BNA. Fifteen of his s ...

recorded Tasjan's "Streets of Galilee," for the album ''Songs We Wish We'd Written 2,'' and was so impressed by the songwriter that he asked Tasjan to record the song with him. The record later reached number 15 on the US Country Billboard Charts. ''Highway Prayer: A Tribute to Adam Carroll'', released in late fall 2016 on Austin-based Eight 30 Records, features Tasjan and fellow East Nashvillian Tim Easton collaborating on Carroll's "Black Flag Blues." Tasjan also released a 7” with Lilly Hiatt on

’s

. Tasjan and Hiatt later collaborated on

Tom Petty Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American musician who was the lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed in 1976. He previously led the band Mudcrutch, was a member of the lat ...

’s Walls, released the week of Petty's passing.

Discography

* ''Hard Love and Free Luck'' (2008) * ''August Moon'' EP (2011) * ''The Thinking Man's Filth'' EP (2012) * ''Crooked River Burning'' EP (2014) * ''Telling Stories to the Wall'' EP (2015) * ''In the Blazes'' (2015) * ''Silver Tears'' (2016) * ''Karma for Cheap'' (2018) * ''Karma for Cheap: Reincarnated'' (2019) * ''Tasjan! Tasjan! Tasjan!'' (2021)

Singles

* Luck Mansion Sessions (2017)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tasjan, Aaron Lee Living people American rock songwriters American acoustic guitarists American male guitarists American folk guitarists American rock guitarists American rock singers American folk singers Singer-songwriters from Ohio People from New Albany, Ohio 21st-century American singers American male singer-songwriters 21st-century American guitarists Guitarists from Ohio 21st-century American male singers Semi Precious Weapons members 1986 births