Artist to Watch: Jaron and The Long Road To Love

A few months ago I was introduced to Jaron and The Long Road To Love while watching country music videos on CMT. (Yes, I love country THAT much). Jaron looked extremely familiar so I did my research. Remember twin brothers Evan and Jaron from the 90s? Their hits include "Crazy For This Girl," "From My Head to My Heart" and "The Distance," many of which landed in major films like "Runaway Bride" and "Serendipity."

When Evan decided to take a break from the music business to start a family, a decade later Jaron chose otherwise. His MySpace states that in March of 2009, after growing tired of hearing the bad news about the economy, he took out his guitar and wrote a song to feel better.

"I felt selfish. I felt like I had this gift that I was keeping to myself. A friend of mine had told me years before that someday I would realize that my talent belonged to all of us and not just to me. He said I had a social responsibility to share but it took a decade for those words to make sense to me."

Fast forward to 2010. Quirky current single, "Pray For You" is a staple on country music countdowns and Jaron released his debut country album, Getting Dressed in the Dark, this past Tuesday. The LP features 10 songs about Jaron's journey to love. Of the album's theme, Jaron says, “Why do I choose to write about love? Because that’s where I am right now. I’m not interested in writing stories about doors, or blue skies or whatever. It’s not interesting to me right now.”

While “Pray for You,” is a revenge ballad, “Meantime Girl” tells the whimsical story of a fleeting infatuation at a traffic light and “Kill Me For Loving You” is a vulnerable song about the pain of a break up. With his return to music, Jaron says he wanted to do things differently.

"I wanted to write the songs that I felt were being left off other people's albums. I wanted to talk about the little details that get overlooked but that I think are really the biggest issues. It was also important to me to be very candid in my lyrics and make sure that I was honest in not only my frustrations towards others, but also when discussing my own failings. If honest was going to be the foundation of this album, I had to be willing to start with me."

For more on Jaron and The Long Road to Love, visit him on Facebook and MySpace. You can watch the video for "Pray For You" below as well as download the album on iTunes here.