Digging rock’s roots

JD McPherson’s vintage-inspired tunes propelled him from Tulsa bars to worldwide tours

For information on McPherson's Nov. 14, 2014 show at Cain's Ballroom, visit our calendar.

Old school meets new school. So far, that has been the game plan for the solo career of roots rocker JD McPherson. And it’s a strategy that’s working well for the Broken Arrow musician.

Since summer 2011, McPherson’s band has appeared on “The Conan O’Brien Show,” “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and “The Late Show with David Letterman” … all after inking a deal with Rounder Records.

The band also has toured the U.S. and Europe, bringing its infectious 1950s-inspired sound to ever-larger crowds of adoring fans. All this rapid success is partially due, however, to a very modern social networking phenomenon: YouTube. More on that later.

A rancher’s son, McPherson grew up in Buffalo Valley, Okla. By age 13, he discovered an abiding interest in classic rock — Led Zeppelin, the Allman Brothers, etc., based on his big brother’s record collection. His brother also began showing McPherson how to play guitar. He was hooked.

“When I started learning how to play, it’s all I wanted to do,” McPherson says. “I was practicing all the time.”

Not surprisingly, this led McPherson to get involved in numerous garage bands. By the time he discovered alternative and punk rock in high school, McPherson had begun penning his own songs and making demos.

Then he discovered vintage rock ’n’ roll. It would change the trajectory of his life.

“I had heard a lot of older music on the radio growing up, but it didn’t affect me much,” McPherson says. “It was always presented like ‘This is what happened before Led Zeppelin.’ My older brother always called it the ‘roots of rock.’ Later on though, I got a hold of some Buddy Holly stuff. It was great. It just really hit the mark for me.”

It led him to explore the genre’s history, re-examining Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis, then Little Richard, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and Larry Williams. It profoundly altered his musical direction.

After graduating from the University of Oklahoma with a degree in media arts, McPherson married, moved to Broken Arrow, had his first child and worked a number of odd jobs … all while pursuing a music career with his band, The Starkweather Boys. Eventually, he decided to attend graduate school at The University of Tulsa for a degree in open media.

During this time, McPherson also met Jimmy Sutton, a Chicago-based, roots rock bassist/producer/label owner.

“I was trying to get some weekend gigs up in Chicago for my band,” McPherson says. “So, I approached him on MySpace. He listened to our music and got us some gigs. As time went on, we started talking a lot. He hired me to play guitar for The Jimmy Sutton Show at a weekender in Seattle. That led to us ultimately making a record together on his label.”

The two musicians, along with drummer/pianist/organist Alex Hall, formed the core players for McPherson’s 12-track debut, “Signs and Signifiers.”

“We wanted to make a record for the roots rock lovers, but we wanted to package it more like a modern record,” McPherson says.

Recording commenced in 2009 at Sutton’s vintage gear-filled studio. Just as “Signs and Signifiers” was reaching completion, McPherson was hired at Holland Hall as an art and technology teacher, but he was laid off in May 2011 because of budget cuts.

“We had enough steam in the roots rock scene to do a couple of tours” until he could get another teaching job, McPherson says.

Luckily, he never had to. Buzz from McPherson’s popular YouTube videos had generated interest from management agencies. The group eventually signed with one that quickly hooked them up with promotional and booking agencies.

“Then we started fielding requests from label people,” he says. “We were talking to major label bigwigs who had absolutely no idea what to do with us. Some of their ideas were pretty funny.”

Eventually, the band signed with longtime, well-respected indie label Rounder Records. The label released “Signs and Signifiers” in April.

Along with appearances on late-night TV shows, the band has been the subject of articles in Rolling Stone and MOJO, and received glowing coverage on several NPR programs, including “All Things Considered.”

Looking back on his band’s potentially risky decision to fuse modern and classic sensibilities for its debut release, McPherson is grateful.

“Luckily, the rockin’ scene didn’t push it away,” he says. “They embraced it.”