JAKE GILL - TUESDAY APRIL 15

Growing up in Kansas, Jake Gill has fond memories of spending time with his grandfather on the family farm. Listening to music was a huge part of that upbringing – particularly on 1070 AM, the legendary frequency of radio powerhouse KFDI.“My grandpa was the one that really exposed me to country music,” Gill recalls. “I remember when I was a sixth grader, and he would let me drive the tractor around the farm. We’d hear all the old-time greats like Hank and Willie.”But, music had already taken a hold in Gill’s imagination long before that. “My dad was a music teacher when I was young. I have photos of me in a bean bag chair while listening to whatever he had playing on the record player. My mom tells the story of my dad directing a band concert, and I was standing on her lap directing right along.”Later in his formative musical years came a man who would become one of his biggest musical influences – Garth Brooks. Gill says that changed everything. “Garth was on the edge.  That was something I had never seen before. He wasn’t just a singer, he was and is a performer.”Gill brings that raw energy and charisma to his brand new single, “Tailgate Tradition.”

As a performer, Gill qualifies as a “road warrior,” with a full slate of dates on his schedule. He has also worked the stage with such musical heavyweights as Jake Owen, Easton Corbin, and Chris Cagle. But, there’s one performer and stage that stands head and shoulders above them all.“I won a songwriting contest, and that got me on the main stage at Country Stampede, and I opened up for Jason Aldean,” he recalls, claiming that night made him more confident than ever in his approach to entertaining a crowd. “By far, that was my greatest experience musically. It was very surreal. I still remember being up there in front of 50,000 people, and I wasn’t nervous,” he recalls with a smile.

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