Craig Jameson Captures Energetic and Bluesy Sound on “Grasshopper 2.0” Instrumental Single

Craig Jameson. Photo – Camera Creations Photography

Craig Jameson wants to boost people’s energy.

The multigenre singer-songwriter and guitarist invigorates listeners with his latest instrumental single, “Grasshopper 2.0.”

The bluesy song features upbeat slide guitar, bouncy bass, and marching drums that mimic a grasshopper’s vigor and momentum.

He created that infectious rhythm with producer and bassist Andy Reed and drummer Donny Brown.

“That song is meant to energize,” said Jameson, who’s based in Midland, Michigan. “When you listen to it, it’s meant to pump you up. It’s about this insect that’s racing through the underbrush, and you can picture that because of the bouncy, jumpy rhythm.”

Before doing “Grasshopper 2.0,” Jameson previously recorded and released “Grasshopper” as a slide-guitar single in June 2024.

“It is a remake of the song that I did with Dana Nielsen,” he said. “I did it strictly myself … but I’ve always heard it with a really intense bass and drum part. It’s always been in my head, but I didn’t know anyone I could do that with at the time. It’s [also] good as a standalone piece.”

Once Jameson relocated from Southern California to Midland with wife Chiqeeta in September 2023 for family reasons, he met Reed and started working with him at Reed Recording Company in Bay City.

“I reached out to Andy and said, ‘Go to my newly created website and listen to some of my single guitar pieces. You let me know if I have the right quality to work with you,’” said Jameson, whose music encompasses rock, folk, blues, and Americana. “He came back fully encouraging. I started with a single instrumental with him and then did a song with drums.”

After recording several songs with Reed, Jameson decided to revisit “Grasshopper” with bass and drums, leading to “Grasshopper 2.0.”

“I really think it goes where it’s supposed to,” he said. “It’s kind of a little barn burner.”

I recently spoke with Jameson about his background and catalog of songs.

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Beacon of Hope – The Legal Matters Bring Power Pop Shine to ‘Chapter Three’

The Legal Matters 2
The Legal Matters’ Andy Reed, Chris Richards and Keith Klingensmith chronicle the pandemic, politics and personal struggles on “Chapter Three.” Courtesy photo

The Legal Matters brilliantly shine a light during a lingering time of uncertainty.

The mid-Michigan and metro Detroit power pop trio of Andy Reed, Chris Richards and Keith Klingensmith combines sunny melodies, lush harmonies and spirited instrumentation over a dozen contemplative tracks chronicling the pandemic, politics and personal struggles on Chapter Three.

“Music lovers value music even more now than they did before the pandemic. We hope people enjoy this record, and that it’s another decent thing that’s come out of this crappy time. We want people to put their ears on it and give it a chance, and we think there’s a little bit of something there for everybody,” Reed said.

Now available via Klingensmith’s Futureman Records, Chapter Three serves as The Legal Matters’ third infectious, compelling release since 2014. Each track provides an intimate, thoughtful perspective about moving forward in today’s ambivalent, precarious world.

“This record was mentally one of the most helpful things through all of this because it gave the three of us a chance to work on something that we really enjoy doing. We’re ridiculously pleased with the results,” Reed said.

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Echoes – Mid-Michigan Artists Reimagine 23 Tom Petty Classics for Double Tribute Album

Twenty-three Mid-Michigan artists pay homage to Tom Petty on the new double tribute album, “Echoes.”

Eighteen months ago, Andy Reed and JD Dominowski heard a distant “echo” in the sprawling fields of Mid-Michigan.

That “echo” eagerly beckoned the Bay City singer-songwriters to pay homage to the late Tom Petty, who passed away in October 2017, and his musical legacy. The two friends quickly answered the call – a double tribute album of local artists reimagining Petty hits, fan favorites and deep cuts.

“We’re re-singing his songs, and we’re an echo of his music now. That’s all he has now are echoes of his music. It’s us carrying the torch a little bit and saying here’s what Tom Petty means to us. Here’s an echo of what he gave us, and we’re translating it in our own way,” said Reed, who produced, recorded, engineered and mixed the project at Reed Recording Company.

Last week, Reed, Dominowski and 21 other Michigan artists dropped their compelling tribute project, Echoes: Remembering the Music of Tom Petty, via all streaming platforms. The album also doubles as a fundraiser for All Music is Power (AMP), a Bay City nonprofit that provides live music for K-12 special needs students in the Bay-Arenac Intermediate School District.

“We thought, ‘Well, let’s make this for a good cause,’ and I started this nonprofit with Donny Brown, who’s also on the record, and I don’t play the live stuff anymore, but Donny still does, and he goes to different special education centers and plays a live concert for them,” Reed said.

“It’s basically music for all the right reasons. This is not something that we want to make money on ourselves. We just want this to be making music for another good thing.”

A Refugee Who Learns to Fly

JD Dominowski provides a countrified rendition of “Refugee” on “Echoes.”

Along with his Michigan music compadres, Reed beautifully interprets a kaleidoscope of Petty catalog “echoes” throughout the 23-track project. The first response includes Dominowski’s striking Americana rendition of the 1979 Damn the Torpedoes classic, “Refugee,” which exquisitely blends vibrant acoustic strums, vivid piano, piercing electric guitar, thumping bass and intermittent tambourine strikes.

Dominowski’s countrified Springsteen-like vocals breathe new life into one of Petty’s most iconic Heartbreaker tracks as he sings, “Somewhere, somehow, somebody/Must have kicked you around some/Who knows, maybe you were kidnapped/Tied up, taken away, and held for ransom.”

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