Jerrod Lee Niemann (born July 24, 1979) is an American
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...
singer and songwriter. He has released one single for
Category 5 Records
Category 5 Records was an independent record label based in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 2005, the label included eight different country music artists in its roster. The label was owned by Raymond Termini and was disestablished in 2009.
His ...
Arista Nashville
Arista Nashville was an American record label that served as a wholly owned division of Sony Music, operated under the Sony Music Nashville division. Founded in 1989, the label specialized in country music artists, including Alan Jackson, Brooks ...
High Noon
''High Noon'' is a 1952 American Western (genre), Western film produced by Stanley Kramer from a screenplay by Carl Foreman, directed by Fred Zinnemann, and starring Gary Cooper. The plot, which occurs in Real time (media), real time, centers ...
'' (2014); and one album, '' This Ride'' (2017), for Curb Records. These albums have produced a combined ten Top 40 entries on the
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States.
This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...
and
Country Airplay
Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since October 20, 2012, although the magazine also retrospectively recognizes the Hot Country Songs charts from January 20, 1990, through October 13, 2012, ...
What Do You Want
"What Do You Want" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Jerrod Niemann. It was released in October 2010 as the second single from his album ''Judge Jerrod & the Hung Jury''. The song is his second top 40 hit on th ...
". He has also co-written three singles for
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American Country music, country singer and songwriter. His integration of pop and rock elements into the country genre has earned him his immense popularity, particularly in the United States, ...
Lee Brice
Kenneth Mobley Brice Jr. (born June 10, 1979), known professionally as Lee Brice, is an American country music singer and songwriter, signed to Curb Records. Brice has released five albums with the label: ''Love Like Crazy'', ''Hard 2 Love (Lee B ...
,
Blake Shelton
Blake Tollison Shelton (born June 18, 1976) is an American country music, country singer, songwriter and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin (Blake Shelton song), Austin" from his Blake Shelton (album), self ...
,
Colbie Caillat
Colbie Marie Caillat ( ; born May 28, 1985) is an American singer-songwriter. She rose to fame on the social networking website Myspace in 2005.
She signed with Universal Republic Records to release her debut studio album, '' Coco'' (2007), w ...
,
Diamond Rio
Diamond Rio is an American country music band from Nashville, Tennessee. The band consists of Marty Roe (lead vocals, guitar), Jimmy Olander (lead guitar, banjo), Dan Truman (keyboards), Dana Williams (bass guitar, vocals), Micah Schweinsberg ( ...
,
The Cadillac Three
The Cadillac Three, originally known as The Cadillac Black, is an American rock band consisting of Jaren Johnston (lead vocals, guitar), Kelby Ray (lap steel guitar, bass guitar, vocals), and Neil Mason (drums, vocals). All three members were ...
Harper, Kansas
Harper is a city in Harper County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 1,313.
History
Harper was founded in 1877 by a colony from Iowa. The city of Harper, like Harper County ...
, but raised in
Liberal, Kansas
Liberal is a city in and the county seat of Seward County, Kansas, United States. As of 2024, the population of the city was 18,743. It is located in southwestern Kansas, along U.S. Route 54 highway, near the Kansas-Oklahoma state line. Lib ...
. From an early age, he was influenced by country acts such as
Lefty Frizzell
William Orville "Lefty" Frizzell (March 31, 1928 – July 19, 1975) was an American country and honky-tonk singer-songwriter.
Frizell is known as one of the most influential country music vocal stylists of all time. He has been cited as in ...
George Strait
George Harvey Strait Sr. (born May 18, 1952) is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer.
Strait has sold over 120 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. He holds ...
. He learned to play his first musical instrument on a
Tracy Lawrence
Tracy Lee Lawrence (born January 27, 1968) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and record producer. Born in Atlanta, Texas, and raised in Foreman, Arkansas, Lawrence began performing at age 15 and moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 19 ...
autographed guitar his mother won in a contest at a Lawrence concert.
After graduating from Liberal High School, Niemann attended South Plains College in Levelland, Texas. Niemann began his professional music career by singing and playing acoustic guitar in Texas clubs and bars, particularly the Stockyard Saloon and the historic White Elephant Saloon located in the Fort Worth Stockyards. In 1999 he self-released his debut album ''Long Hard Road''.
Niemann moved to
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
, in September 2000. He signed a developmental deal with
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released ...
in August 2001 but did not release anything on the label. After parting with Mercury Records, Niemann and his band continued touring the club circuit across America playing venues such as the Grizzly Rose in
Denver
Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
and the
Wildhorse Saloon
The Wildhorse Saloon was a country and western-themed restaurant which offers live music in addition to a Nightclub, dance club in downtown Nashville, Tennessee. It is owned by Grand Ole Opry, Opry Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of Ryman Ho ...
in Nashville. He soon traveled to Europe to tour with the band Kane consisting of members Christian Kane and Steve Carlson.
In 2006, he signed to
Category 5 Records
Category 5 Records was an independent record label based in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 2005, the label included eight different country music artists in its roster. The label was owned by Raymond Termini and was disestablished in 2009.
His ...
and charted with the single " I Love Women (My Momma Can't Stand)". The label closed shortly after this single's release, and the album ''Behind This Microphone'' was never released.
20102015: Arista Nashville
Niemann signed to
Arista Nashville
Arista Nashville was an American record label that served as a wholly owned division of Sony Music, operated under the Sony Music Nashville division. Founded in 1989, the label specialized in country music artists, including Alan Jackson, Brooks ...
's Sea Gayle division, co-owned by
Brad Paisley
Brad Douglas Paisley (born October 28, 1972) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His first success came in 1997 as the writer of David Kersh's "Another You (David Kersh song), Another You". After this, he signed with ...
, in 2010. His debut single " Lover, Lover" was released in early 2010; it was originally recorded by the
folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...
group Sonia Dada under the title "You Don't Treat Me No Good" and was a number one single in Australia in 1992. In March 2010, "Lover, Lover" became Niemann's first top 40 single on the country music charts and in August 2010 hit number one. The song is included on his first major-label album '' Judge Jerrod & the Hung Jury'', which debuted at number one on the ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' Top Country Sales Chart. The album also was named one of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' Top 10 Albums of the Year. The album's second single, "
What Do You Want
"What Do You Want" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Jerrod Niemann. It was released in October 2010 as the second single from his album ''Judge Jerrod & the Hung Jury''. The song is his second top 40 hit on th ...
", debuted on the U.S. ''Billboard''
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States.
This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...
chart that October. In November 2010, Niemann was nominated in the New Artist category for that year's
Country Music Association
The Country Music Association (CMA) is an American trade association with the stated aim of promoting and developing country music throughout the world. Founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee, it originally consisted of 233 members and was the f ...
Awards
An award, sometimes called a distinction, is given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration.
An award may be d ...
. At the 2010 American Country Awards, Niemann was nominated for Artist of the Year: Breakthrough Artist, Single of the Year: Breakthrough Artist, and Music Video: Breakthrough Artist for "Lover, Lover". He was also nominated for Breakthrough Video of the Year for "Lover, Lover" at the 2011
Country Music Television
Country Music Television, often abbreviated to CMT, is an American pay TV network that launched on March 5, 1983. It is currently owned by Paramount Global through the MTV Entertainment Group unit of its networks division. CMT was the first na ...
Music Awards. In May 2011, "What Do You Want" peaked at number 4. The album's third single, " One More Drinkin' Song", reached number 13 in December 2011. Niemann finished up the year with four nominations at the American Country Awards, including Artist of the Year: New Artist, Music Video of the Year, Music Video: Male, and Music Video: New Artist for "What Do You Want".
Niemann released his fourth Arista single, " Shinin' on Me", on April 9, 2012. His second Arista album, '' Free the Music'', was released on October 2, 2012. The album's second single, " Only God Could Love You More", charted late in the year.
" Drink to That All Night" was released in late 2013 as the first single off of his third album for Arista. The album, ''
High Noon
''High Noon'' is a 1952 American Western (genre), Western film produced by Stanley Kramer from a screenplay by Carl Foreman, directed by Fred Zinnemann, and starring Gary Cooper. The plot, which occurs in Real time (media), real time, centers ...
'', was released in March 2014, debuting at number 2 on the ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' Top Country Sales chart. In April 2014, "Drink to That All Night" became his second number one single. Niemann collaborated with Pitbull on the remix of the song. Singles "
Donkey
The donkey or ass is a domesticated equine. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a separate species, ''Equus asinus''. It was domes ...
" and " Buzz Back Girl" were also released off this album.
2016present: Curb
Niemann parted ways with Arista Nashville in January 2016, shortly after releasing another single titled " Blue Bandana". In March 2016, Niemann signed a record deal with Curb Records. His first single for the label was " A Little More Love", a duet with
Lee Brice
Kenneth Mobley Brice Jr. (born June 10, 1979), known professionally as Lee Brice, is an American country music singer and songwriter, signed to Curb Records. Brice has released five albums with the label: ''Love Like Crazy'', ''Hard 2 Love (Lee B ...
. It reached the top 30 of the Country Airplay chart.
In March 2017, Niemann released "God Made a Woman," which he called his "favorite song I’ve ever recorded." Niemann's wife, Morgan, is featured in the music video. It served as the lead-off single to his fourth studio album, '' This Ride'', which was released via Curb Records on October 6, 2017. "I Got This" was released as the album's second single, and it peaked in the top 40 of the Country Airplay chart.
After exiting Curb, Niemann independently released a digital-only album entitled ''Lost & Found'' in 2020. The release includes two singles: "Ghost Rider" and "Tequila Kisses".
Songwriting
At the age of 8, Niemann was writing several songs a year. He found legendary Nashville songwriters such as
Paul Overstreet
Paul Lester Overstreet (born March 17, 1955) is an American country music singer and songwriter. He began his singing career in 1982 with a self-titled album on RCA Records Nashville. From 1986 to 1987, he was a vocalist in the trio S-K-O (Schuy ...
to be very influential in his songwriting and went on to co-write with all three while living there. Aged 10 he performed original songs in local talent shows in Kansas. After collecting several compositions throughout high school, Niemann recorded his debut album ''Long Hard Road'' in
Clovis, New Mexico
Clovis is a city in and the county seat of Curry County, New Mexico. The population was 38,567 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Clovis is located in the New Mexico portion of the Llano Estacado, in the eastern part of the state.
A ...
, while attending college in Levelland, Texas.
In May 2001, Niemann was contacted by
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American Country music, country singer and songwriter. His integration of pop and rock elements into the country genre has earned him his immense popularity, particularly in the United States, ...
to collaborate, along with fellow songwriter Richie Brown. Niemann went on to co-write three singles for
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American Country music, country singer and songwriter. His integration of pop and rock elements into the country genre has earned him his immense popularity, particularly in the United States, ...
: the Chris LeDoux tribute " Good Ride Cowboy", as well as "That Girl Is a Cowboy" and "Midnight Sun". "Good Ride Cowboy" earned Niemann a
Broadcast Music Incorporated
Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) is a performance rights organisation, performance rights organization in the United States. It collects blanket license fees from businesses that use music, entitling those businesses to play or sync any songs from BM ...
award for being one of the most played country songs of 2006. Niemann was awarded two BMI awards in 2012 for "What Do You Want" and "One More Drinking Song", each being one of the most played songs of the year.
Other artists who have recorded Niemann's work include Jamey Johnson,
Lee Brice
Kenneth Mobley Brice Jr. (born June 10, 1979), known professionally as Lee Brice, is an American country music singer and songwriter, signed to Curb Records. Brice has released five albums with the label: ''Love Like Crazy'', ''Hard 2 Love (Lee B ...
,
Blake Shelton
Blake Tollison Shelton (born June 18, 1976) is an American country music, country singer, songwriter and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin (Blake Shelton song), Austin" from his Blake Shelton (album), self ...
,
Colbie Caillat
Colbie Marie Caillat ( ; born May 28, 1985) is an American singer-songwriter. She rose to fame on the social networking website Myspace in 2005.
She signed with Universal Republic Records to release her debut studio album, '' Coco'' (2007), w ...
,
Diamond Rio
Diamond Rio is an American country music band from Nashville, Tennessee. The band consists of Marty Roe (lead vocals, guitar), Jimmy Olander (lead guitar, banjo), Dan Truman (keyboards), Dana Williams (bass guitar, vocals), Micah Schweinsberg ( ...
,
The Cadillac Three
The Cadillac Three, originally known as The Cadillac Black, is an American rock band consisting of Jaren Johnston (lead vocals, guitar), Kelby Ray (lap steel guitar, bass guitar, vocals), and Neil Mason (drums, vocals). All three members were ...
John Anderson (musician)
John David Anderson (born December 13, 1954) is an American country music, country singer with a successful career that has lasted more than 40 years. Starting in 1977 with the release of his first single, "I've Got a Feelin' (Somebody's Been ...
On March 6, 2012, Niemann's tour bus caught fire. He was unharmed. Niemann credits fellow country singer
Lee Brice
Kenneth Mobley Brice Jr. (born June 10, 1979), known professionally as Lee Brice, is an American country music singer and songwriter, signed to Curb Records. Brice has released five albums with the label: ''Love Like Crazy'', ''Hard 2 Love (Lee B ...
for alerting him to the dangerous blaze.
Niemann became engaged to longtime girlfriend Morgan Petek in New Orleans in late 2013. Niemann and Petek appeared on
TLC
TLC may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Television
* ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2
* TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network
** TLC (Asia), an A ...
TV series ''
Say Yes to the Dress
''Say Yes to the Dress'' is an American reality television series on TLC which follows events at Kleinfeld Bridal in Manhattan. The series shows the progress of individual sales associates, managers, and fitters at the store, along with profili ...
'' with Niemann's family to pick out Petek's wedding dress. They married on October 12, 2014, in
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan ( , ; Spanish for "Saint John the Baptist, John") is the capital city and most populous Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in the Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the ...
. Niemann and Petek founded non-profit "Free the Music USA", which provides musical equipment and education to children in need. They are also actively involved with many animal rescue non-profits. Niemann is also involved with the
United Service Organizations
The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...
and went to Afghanistan, Kuwait, Romania, and Kosovo in 2016 on his first overseas tour. Jerrod and Morgan divorced after more than four years of marriage. The divorce was finalized on December 17, 2018.
Discography
Studio albums
* ''Long Hard Road'' (1999)
* ''Jukebox of Hard Knocks'' (2004)
* '' Judge Jerrod & the Hung Jury'' (2010)
* '' Free the Music'' (2012)
* ''Yellow Brick Road'' (2013)
* ''
High Noon
''High Noon'' is a 1952 American Western (genre), Western film produced by Stanley Kramer from a screenplay by Carl Foreman, directed by Fred Zinnemann, and starring Gary Cooper. The plot, which occurs in Real time (media), real time, centers ...