Aaron Jaxon performs original songs from his Sound Asylum studio in Tennessee, sharing stories behind tracks like "Legion" and "Pentecostal Blues" alongside three-plus years of sobriety and a Chet-Atkins-style cover of Foo Fighters' "Everlong."
Chapters
Okay, and we are live. Thank y'all for tuning in this evening here to my, to my Facebook Live here. We're live from the Sound Asylum recording studio here in Boone's Creek, and this is the, um, this is actually the studio where we've recorded all of the Aaron Jaxon Band material up until this point, like all three of our recordings have been done right here. And just real quick, I'm going to pin a comment on this real quick here. Okay, so yeah, thank y'all so much for tuning in this evening. I'm going to get into it here, and, um, yeah, um, feel free to, uh, throw a little love in that virtual tip jar. I've got that on the pinned comment there. So I'm going to sit here and play some original music here for you. I'll play a couple of covers. So good to see everybody. And yeah, here we go. This first one is off the new record.
It's called "Long Before the Sun." We're going to get lost where we don't belong. We're going to sing a rock and a country song. We're going to cover each other's backs. Stage up with Babylon while I'll be getting closer to you. We're gonna jump up on the kettle drums, we're gonna prophesy of the things to come. I know that your angel eyes and your fairy thumbs will divide the night and day in two, and we'll smoke like the end of a pistol. And we'll kick like the butt of a gun. And we'll grab bits of life by the fistful. 'Cause we'll burn out long before the sun. We're gonna rob 'em blind, but we'll make it quick. We'll let the cure and the remedy get sick. We'll give the scarlet letter to Moe Minick while I will give my love to you. We're gonna make tea from the magic vine and let the medicine bend space and time. We're reaching higher for a better paradigm we all can just step into. And we'll smoke like the end of a pistol and we'll kick like the butt of a gun. And we'll grab bits of life by the fistful 'cause we'll burn out long before the sun. Long before the sun. And we'll smoke like the end of a pistol and we'll kick like the bottom of a gun. And we'll grab it and laugh by the fistful. 'Cause we're all gonna burn out. And we'll smoke like the end of a pistol. And we'll kick like the butt of a gun. And we'll grab it and laugh by the fistful. 'Cause we'll burn out long before the sun. Long before the sun. Long before the sign. Long before the sign. Long before the sign. Long before the sun Long before the sun.
Again, thank y'all so much for tuning in this evening. So I'm going to go ahead and do a little preemptive apology here. I, um, I've got my phone over here, um, but I'm not streaming from the phone. And, um, I thought it'd be a brilliant idea to just have that here and then I could just interact with everybody. The thing about it is, is I'm hearing myself with about a 2 or 3 second delay. So if I sit here and try to do that, that is not going to be a whole lot of fun. I promise I will respond to all the comments after this is finished, but if I try to do that in real time, it is going to not be a good thing. So anyway, I want to thank y'all all so much for tuning in. I'm gonna keep going right down the road here. This is another song off the new record. This is called Fire, Space, and Time.
I'm gonna go Well, Apollo's going 85 and there's nothing in his way. His ride or die, no spider fly, will keep the wolves at bay. Alexander tumbled over and Saint Peter's upside down and says, "I will sure remain there when you lay me in the ground." So stand for your beliefs as I stay upside down for mine while we're hanging fire, floating space, and mostly killing time. Talk about the wisdom or the madness of the crowds, for there's fear and loathing where the old profession is allowed. When your fable of two cities became one of war and peace, the sun would also rise up over Eden in the east. So go put away your arms, as I will say farewell to mine, while we're hanging fire, floating space, and mostly killing time. Who wallow in distraction while I talk about our fate? 'Cause we think we're gonna live to 89 or 98. Pay the piper off and let the devil spin his wheels. Keep your gun outside your pants for all the world to feel. Well, Napoleon was telling everybody where to go. He had Lee Harvey, John Wilkes, and Cassius in tow. His sycophants would fight over a couple golden coins while all the Branch Davidians were asking me to join. So I did a dance upon, but never did I cross the line while hanging fire, floating space, and mostly killing time. Who will wallow in distraction while I talk about our fates? 'Cause we think we're gonna live to 89 or 98. Pay the piper off and let the devil spin his wheels. Keep your gun outside your pants for all the world to feel. All right. Pray that God will go and break your bad boy like a horse. He just might feel a fire, but not one of remorse. He'll remove the holy relic and then turn it upside down and later sing a wretch like me was lost but now I'm found. And I'm basking in the spirit that's holy and divine while hanging fire, floating space, and mostly killing time. Oh, wallowing in distraction while I talk about our fate, 'cause we think we're gonna live to 89. '98. Pay the piper off and let the devil spin his wheels. Keep your gun outside your pants for all the world to feel.
Fire, Space and Time. Whoo, my Lord, that song has a lot of words to it. A lot of words to it. So I want to thank y'all again for tuning in this evening. Yeah, I'm at the Sound Asylum, and this is the, uh, this is the recording studio where all of my recordings— the very first Aaron Jaxon Band EP, Light on the Inside, and, uh, the recent one, Saints Communion— we recorded all of that, um, right here, right here in this room. So anyway, I wanted to do a little live stream and bring this to you tonight. So keep going here. This is the first track off the new record, and it is called Legion. Here we go.
Go and find a man on a mission. Dare to prove him wrong. Sing to the sun with a burning mouth and sail the moon your song. Trace the belt of Orion as you shake the master's hand. Split the sea with a ghostly voice and hide it from the land. When the legions in When they're numbered, find a city on a hill. Wake the angels from the slumber. Bring them blades, flame, and steel. Start up a new inquisition in heaven and on earth, wherein the former will first ones be made last and the last will be made first. So you go and put a silver ring on your finger and you quarrel with the patron saints. To the devil send all of your blessings and to God your every single complaint. When the legions in their number find a city on a hill, wake the angels from their slumber, bring them blades, flame, and steel. So lay me down when the flames surround and the fire tests our gold. Stand me up in from your cup? Won't you drink my heart and soul? When the brighter times make hearts and minds soft as tempered glass, will you lay 'em down and take the crown and dance over the past? So don't you go taking to dying 'Cause you're anything but dying. So let the glow of the sheen and the haze of luster explode on your tongue. And go and find the man on a mission. Dare to prove him wrong. Sing in the sun with a burning mouth and sail the moon your song. When the legions in their number find a city on a hill, wake the angels from their slumber, bring them lights, flame, and steel. When the legions in their number find a city on a hill, wake the angels from their slumber, from the slumber, bring them blades of flame and steel.
Whoa, when the legions And that is called Legions. Thank y'all so much for tuning in this evening. I really appreciate it. And, um, yeah, again, I'm coming to you from the Sound Asylum recording studio in Boones Creek. It's where all of our music has been recorded up until this point. So yeah, um, have a look at the pinned comment on there and feel free to throw a little love into the virtual tip jar if you feel so inclined. And, um, you know, just, uh, let your friends know that I'm live. Feel free to share this broadcast. It's kind of the easiest way to, you know, it's just, it's, it's how I'm getting my music out there. So, um, so yeah, feel free to share this. But anyway, thank y'all for tuning in. And, uh, yeah, I promise, yeah, leave, uh, leave some comments. I will come back and reply to every one of them right now. But if I try to, if I have my phone going in real time here, it's going to be a, it's going to be a nightmare.
So anyway, I want to keep things rolling here.
I'm going to take a drink real quick. My little, uh, non-denominational carbonated water beverage. There we go. So this is one that I've been, I've been having a lot of fun playing this. I'll tell the story about this real quick. So when I was, I was about 12 or 13, this was in the mid to late '90s, and I was into a lot of the, um, like a lot of the grunge bands from the '90s, like the, uh, like Nirvana and Soundgarden and Alice in Chains. And another band I liked a lot was the Foo Fighters. And I remember my parents and my grandparents and my guitar teacher at the time, they all hated it because the grunge thing was moving away from a lot of the flashiness from the '80s. So a lot of the riffs were really simple to play. But it was just kind of a different ethos than what was happening in the '80s. And so I remember my parents and grandparents and my guitar teacher too was always like, it doesn't take a whole lot of talent to play this stuff. You should get into a guitar player, somebody like Chet Atkins, a truly great guitar player. And you know, when I was 12 or 13, I just wasn't able to really appreciate the mastery of Chet Atkins. But as I've gotten older and as I've learned several styles of guitar, he's become one of my favorite players. So I like to do this to kind of mash those two influences up. So I'm going to do my version of "Everlong" by the Foo Fighters, but I'm going to play it on the guitar in a style that was kind of similar to Chet Atkins, you know, as kind of an homage to my teenage love for hard rock and grunge music and also my love of of, you know, great, great guitar players like Chet Atkins. So here we go. This is my version of Everlong by the Foo Fighters. So we'll go.
Hello, I've waited here for you ever long. Tonight I throw myself into you. Out of the red, out of her head, she sang. Come down and waste away with me. Down with me. Slow like you wanted it to be. Over my head, out of her head, she sang. And I wonder When I sing along with you, if everything could ever be this real forever, if everything could ever be this good again, the only thing I ever ask of you, you gotta promise not to stop when I say when. And she sang Breathe out so I can breathe you in, breathe you in. And now I know you've always It's been in over my head, out of her head, she sang. And I wonder when I sing along with you if everything will ever be this real forever, if everything will ever be this good again. The only thing I ever ask of you, you gotta promise not to stop when I say when. She sang. And I wonder when I sing along with you If everything could ever be this real forever. If everything could ever be this good again. The only thing I ever ask of you, you gotta promise not to stop when I say when. And she sang.
And there we go. That's Everlong by the Foo Fighters. A lot different than the, uh, than the original version of it there. So again, thank y'all for tuning in this evening. This is— I've been wanting to do a livestream from here for quite some time. And hey, I got to give a big shout out— he's running sound for this thing tonight— to brother Alex Ryan back here on the board. He engineered this last record, so I wanted to give a big shout out and big thanks for him for doing this here. So yeah, I'm gonna Keep things going right along here. This next song is actually— I wrote the chorus to this a long time ago. This would have been at least, gosh, at least 10 years ago. And this is a true story, I swear. I wrote the chorus to this song after I had spent a weekend in jail. And I don't know why I ended up in jail. Why it came to me. I just started hearing this melody, and the name of this song is "I'll Be Gone for a While." So I don't know if it's somewhere in my subconscious mind or maybe my conscious mind back then, I was thinking, I was like, yeah, I'll probably eventually be back here. But I'm proud to say it's been 10 years and I have not been back to jail. I don't plan on ever going back. It's not fun. I don't recommend it. So anyway, this, like I said, I wrote the chorus to this after that. And then the verses came a little bit later, but, um, it's been one people have really enjoyed a whole lot, so I wanted to, um, I wanted to play this here for you. And yeah, it's called I'll Be Gone for a While.
I put the state in my pocket. I held the world in my hands. I took a blade and a rocket and I conquered enemy lands. I carved your name in an oak tree. I painted mine in a field. They gave me 3 tickets for free, but they wouldn't let me behind the wheel. So I'll be gone for a while. Yes, I'll be gone for a while. Remove the light from your window, baby, and I'll be gone for a while. The sun was casting its shadow when you put your mark on my neck. Well, sometimes you're deep, some you're shallow, while I play the organizer wreck. The roads are cloudy at midnight and they'll take you straight to the sky. You wear your inside out, right? And babe, I'll be gone for a while. So I'll be gone for a while. Yes, I'll be gone for a while. Remove the light from your window, baby. And I'll be gone for a while. So I'll be gone for a while. Yes, I'll be gone for a while. Remove the light from your window, baby. And I'll be gone for a while. Well, sometimes I feel like Goliath, ego bigger than skin. So lay me down with the lions in heaven, though not in the den. Take an oak and a maple Make them bloody and dry. I left a note on your T-bow saying I'll be gone for a while. So I'll be gone for a while. Yes, I'll be gone for a while. Remove the light from your window, baby. I've now been gone for a while. So I'll be gone for a while. Yes, I'll be gone for a while. Remove the light from your window, baby. And I'll be gone for a while. I'll be gone for a while. I'll be gone for a while. I'll be gone for a while. I'll be gone for a while. I'll be gone for a while. So I'll be gone for a while. Yes, I'll be gone for a while. Remove the light from your window, baby, and I'll be gone for a while. So I'll be gone for a while. Because I'll be gone for a while. Remove the light from your window, baby, and I'll be gone for a while.
And there we go. I'll be gone for a while. Are we good, Alex? Are we good?
Okay, all right.
The, uh, second string on this guitar was— whoo, that got very out of tune in the middle of that song. So again, y'all, thank you so much for tuning in here. Like I was saying earlier, feel free to let your friends know that I'm live. And, uh, yeah, again, my name is Aaron Jaxon. I'm a singer-songwriter guitar player, um, from, uh, born and raised in East Texas, made my home in Johnson City, Tennessee for a while now. And yeah, I'm just— I've been started doing these these past couple of weeks and it's been a good time. So I wanted to continue to do these here. All right. All right, so this next song is one that was recorded on the Light on the Inside EP. This came out back in like 2015, I think. And it was It was funny because there was a movie that I had seen called Crazy Heart. It starred Jeff Bridges, and it's about this old kind of outlaw country singer who was always kind of just on the verge of success. And he's just a heavy drinker, and he lives hard, and all that kind of stuff. And I remember the subtitle of the movie said, the harder the life, the sweeter the song. And there's a whole mythos around artists and creative people where it's like this idea that you've got to be kind of a train wreck, chemically addicted, irresponsible, and all this other kind of stuff. And for a long time, I really believed that. Because it was like Keith Richards and Hunter S. Thompson and all these other people. And I'm very happy to say, sitting here today with over 3 and a half years clean and sober, that I don't believe that crap anymore. And I've found that in getting sober, I've been more creative than I've ever been in my life. Anyway, though, I still took the subtitle of the movie and I kind of made this chorus around it. So anyway, this is called Dreamers.
I made a lover's world of fallen knives and angels. I placed a flower underneath your nose. You taught me running with the fallen was forgiven. And drinking from the Dreamers don't realize that their eyes are closed. With doors shut down, you met me higher than the heavens to obtain drain salvation from a dead man's clothes. Liars played as friendly fire stole our sleeping rivals, 'cause dreamers don't realize that their eyes are closed. And what has become of this war I thought I'd won? Does the darkness in life drip the sweetness in the song? Well, I want you naked on a mountaintop singing. I want you dancing on your heels and your toes. Well, I want you silent, but we all know that I'm dreaming, and dreamers don't realize That their eyes are closed? And what has become of this war I thought I'd won? Does the darkness in life drip the sweetness in the song? I brought you in from the rain and silver lining. I told you several lies, I do suppose. You rubbed your muddy fingers over swollen eyelids, 'cause dreamers don't realize that their eyes are closed. And what has become of this war? I thought I'd won. Does the darkness in life drip the sweetness in the song?
And that is called Dreamers. And yeah, all of these, um, all of these are out everywhere you, uh, you know, you you stream your music there. So feel free to check it out on Spotify and Apple Music and Amazon and a whole host of others there. When I upload it to the digital distributor, there's a whole bunch of other streaming services it's up on, and I'm not even sure what they are. But yeah, if you listen to music on it, it's out there. So all right, let me pick things up a little bit here. I'm going to take another quick drink here. Gosh, these sparkling waters are great. But the thing about it is I'll take a drink of one, and then I'll be like midway through a verse of another song. And I'll be like, you know what I'm saying? Like I'm drinking a soda or something like that. So I'm going to pick it up here a little bit. And it's a song called Pentecostal Blues. We had a good time recording this one. And yeah, so I'm going to do my little, like, kind of my little bluegrass-ish version of it tonight here. So here we go.
There's another planet on your wrecking ball that waits for resurrection and for Rome to fall. It still From men a measure to pay the piper well breaks the outer wall, wrecked the citadel. Heaven sweetly whispered to his love a time, said, I'll bring the fiddles if you'll bring the wine. We'll play for all the Caesars and drink for Jesus Christ. away the dark and fiddle in the light. When the fire rains down on their Pentecostal heads To clean the day that has begun oh, see the stars reach down into the planet's chest and hand an earthly heart to the sun I said whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa, whoa Mind was getting into matters Busy head she laid down with the lions and walked with the dead they told her mother Nature was the darkest arch and your flats and fancy all would fall apart. When the fire rains down on their Pentecostal heads To clean the day that has begun oh, see the stars reach down into planet's chest and hand an earthly heart to the sun when the fire Fire rains down upon their Pentecostal heads to claim the day that has begun. Oh, see the stars reach down into the planet's chest and hand an earthly heart to the sun. There's another planet on your wrecking ball that waits for resurrection and for Rome to fall it steals from in a measure to pay the papa well breaks the outer water wreck the citadel. When the firing When the fire rains down upon their Pentecostal heads to clean the day that has begun. Oh, see the stars reach down into the planet's chest and hand an earthly heart to the sun. When the fire rains down upon their Pentecostal heads to clean the day that has begun. Oh, see the stars reach down into the planet's chest and hand an earthly heart to the sun Go and hand an earthly heart to the sun why don't you hand an earthly Heart to the sun I said whoa, whoa, whoa. Pentecostal blues.
All right, let's keep going here. And again, folks, I want to thank y'all for tuning in this evening. I will come back and reply to every single one of the comments. I was going to do it live in real time, but I didn't realize I'd be listening to myself with about a 2 or 3 second delay, which is, uh, which is torture. So get back on there again. Thank y'all so much for tuning in. And yeah, so this next song here is a song about getting sober and growing the hell up and kind of learning how to open up in a relationship, which was a very tough thing for me to do. And that's what this song is about here. So I'll play it here for you.
It's called "Abrielle." Aubrielle, you found me standing at a crossroads, but I wasn't there to learn to play guitar. A bottle sucked away most of my sorrows, with it nearly took my soul and heart. As the heroin You kept my tragic hero from residing in a cozy little hell. My nihilistic outlook you helped slowly to dispel. So I'll be with you in the morning, Aubriel. Oh, Aubriel. Aubrielle, I've never been much for committing. As I sang that line, I know you rolled your eyes. But lately I've been getting good at quitting narratives that hang me out to dry. As for hanging out I was on but by my last thread. You poured blinding light into a hollowed shell. Riding grace without abandon, mercy caught me in its sail. So I'll be with you in the morning, Aubriel. Oh, Aubriel. Aubriel. All the sounds of your musings, they're bitter. Everything you whisper, oh so well. Kings and queens on higher horses, you bring down to where mortals dwell. So I'll be with you in the morning, Abriel. Oh, Abriel. So, Aubrielle, I hope I'm not your last resentment that blocks you from the sunlight of the Lord. I'd rather add some color and some tension to your major or your minor chords. Oh, our escapades will be fuel for others' fodder. And these stories to our children we'll never tell. I'll sit out the saints' communion and turn down the Holy Grail. But I'll be with you in the morning, Abriel. Oh, Abriel. I'll briel all the sounds of your musings. They're bitter, everything you whisper oh so well. Kings and queens on higher horses, you bring down to where mortals dwell. So I'll be with you in the morning, I'll briel. Oh, I'll sit out the sand Communion and turn down the Holy Grail, but I'll be with you in the morning, Abriel. Oh, Abriel.
All right, that one's called Abriel. And all right, folks, I think I've got time for about one more here. I don't want to keep Alex here all evening. I'm gonna do one more here. And again, again, feel free to share this broadcast and throw a little love in that virtual tip jar. You'll see that on the pinned comment if you feel so inclined. That way I can keep coming back and keep doing these Facebook Lives here for you guys week after week here. And again, yeah, just thank you so much for tuning in. And yeah, here we go here. I'm gonna do one more. And yes, one from the first Aaron Jaxon. Band EP. This is called, uh, it's called With or Without. Again, folks, thank y'all so much for tuning in. I'll come back and, uh, I'll, I'll reply to all these comments here. So thank you for tuning in. Um, yeah, again, live from the Sound Asylum in Boone's Creek, Tennessee. Here we go.
A whisper from the moon, there's reassurance in your eye. The house upon a hill is down in whiskey through the night. The devil I will dance with on the shield in the attack. A cosmic fallen kiss, we'll reach and try to make it last. A blue TV, the planet sings, the king of pop is dead. A glance away at someone, now you're stuck inside my head. And I try and read your world there on the mirror on the wall while the refrain in my veins is singing, young man, take it all. But with or without Without either way, you, my dear, I'll be okay. When I sing sweet and soft for you, will both our worlds one turn into— The amber green, the purple glow, the red upon his face. The guests and the proprietors together take their place. If hopes are wanted, wander, I'll spend all my cash on blow. One world of mine you've figured out, but most you'll never know. But with or without, either way, you, my dear, I'll be okay. When I sing sweet and soft for you, Will both our worlds one turn into— Well, I would for you reach up and steal God's fire from the sky. Be the only one you want, never any other guy. Though some might say I'm never, but always more than I seem. May you listen close, but never understand just what I mean. With or without, either way, you, my dear, I'll be okay. When I sing sweet and soft for you, will both our worlds one turn into two? Will both our worlds one turn into—
All right, I'm gonna speed this up here.
Here we go. 1, 2, 3, 4.
Oh, Lord help me. Here we go. All right, folks, thank y'all so much for tuning in this evening to my Facebook Live. Again, I'm Aaron Jaxon coming to you live from The Sound of Solomon, Boone's Creek, Tennessee. Big shout out to Alex Ryan back here on the sound. Thank y'all so much. Share this, tell all your friends about it, come back next week. I love y'all to death. All right, see you next time. Peace.
