‘Cold Beer Calling My Name’ singer Jameson Rodgers on new live album and two No. 1 hits

Jameson Rodgers doesn’t want to say that it’s more fun going out on stage with hit song, riding around the county in a tour bus with everyone body knowing your name and singing your own lyrics back at you.

“But it kind of is,” says the country singer, on the phone from Nashville, talking in advance of his performance Friday night at the 108th Clovis Rodeo.

“I went from playing shows with zero hits to having a hit and half.”

Rodgers had toured with Luke Combs in 2019, but no one really knew who the heck he was, he says. When his debut single “Some Girls” hit No. 1 the following year, it was just as the pandemic started shutting down venues and tours. By the time he was able to get back on the road, he’d already released a follow-up single and it was climbing the charts.

“Cold Beer Calling My Name” hit No. 1 eventually, giving Rodgers two consecutive chart-topping singles.

“Which is just mind blowing, for me,” he says.

Rodgers has been in Nashville for a decade. He moved to the city with little money and no friends and cut his teeth playing every open mic night he could find as a way of meeting other songwriters. Those songwriters — guys like Michael Hardy, Hunter Phelps, Brandon Lay and Combs — became his friends and are still his “boys today.”

“We kind of came up as a class,” Rodgers says.

That’s kind of the story of Nashville — being broke and begging people to listen to your songs and hopefully getting picked up by an established artist. Rodgers co-wrote “Talk You Out of It” for Florida Georgia Line and “I Don’t Know About You” for Chris Lane before had a hit of his own.

“Back then it was easy to let a song go,” Rodgers says.

He also has writing credits on Jason Aldean’s “Camouflage Hat” and the title track for Luke Bryan’s latest release.

He doesn’t get to write songs five days a week anymore and there’s now a list of songs he knows he’s keeping for himself.

“That’s just because I’m having a little bit of success.”

Rodgers is gearing up for the release of a live album next month. It was recorded in Oxford, Mississippi at the same venue he had his first ever sold out show. Rodgers has always been a fan of listening to live albums (those from Eric Church and Kenny Chesney, specifically) and knew he’d be able to capture something special at this show.

It was his first concert in his home state since the pandemic and fans had been holding on to tickets for close to two years.

“We knew it was going to be an absolute barn burning,” he says.

Rodgers is one of three performers at his year’s Clovis Rodeo. Mitchell Tenpenny plays Wednesday and Parmelee performs Thursday. Ticket are $20 to $35 and include rodeo events. Special concert ticket packages are available.

This story was originally published April 18, 2022 at 12:59 PM.