Cody Jasper

Jasper’s sound pulls from all over the South: sumptuous Stax-style horns, scorching slide guitar solos à la Stevie Ray Vaughan and a splash of outlaw country.” - Culture map Austin


“A collection of stellar bluesy bar-room stompers and not sans a couple of poignant ballads - DO512

“This Amarillo-born rock guitar lifer sounds conceived during a tryst backstage at the Fillmore while the Allman Brothers were doing “Whipping Post.” His screeching, slashing, self-titled LP debut is straight-up hair metal blues, with nasty slide guitar driving the crazy train.” - Michael Corcoran 


One of the perks of being a music review editor is getting new music in the mail. I love being given access to special downloads and streaming audio by bands and managers, but getting an actual album or CD in the mail is a great thrill, especially when it’s something as good as Cody Jasper’s self-titled album.

This 38-minute record is one slick display of outlaw music. The opener, “Black Cadillac,” features handclaps, floor stomps, and Jasper’s plea to the Lord to save his soul from the Devil who is “drivin’ his train.” Jasper admits he’s lived a life of sin and wishes he could take it back, although it sounds like he had fun doing it. It’s a perfect opener
because it will instantly make you want to hear the rest of the record (and Nick Jay’s organ and piano work on it is fantastic).

“Cherry Pie” is, thankfully, not a cover of the Warrant song and is instead a showcase for Jasper’s sizzling guitar and punch-you-in-the-face vocals. It sounds like he wrote it while riding in the back of ZZ Top’s Elminator hot rod. “Evil Woman” isn’t a cover of the ELO song (although I think a cover of it by Jasper would be neat, to say the least). It is a track that will infect you with Head Nodding Syndrome, however, because it thumps with strip club drums, rock licks that will make Lenny Kravitz jealous, and organ that would make Jeff Lynne proud. “The Deal Is Done” is a fun track about Jasper wanting to get laid but first needing to jump through several hoops to get between the “Holy Water” changes directions for the album, as it’s a bit of a melancholy song about Jasper trying to explain to his girl how things went bad. You can’t help but think he might work it out with her, however, as he and his backing band (Nick Jay on bass, piano, and organ, Jordan Cain and Charlie Jones on drums, J.T. Holt on lap steel and guitar, and Jason Burt on guitar as well) knock out uplifting music that would, go figure with a title like “Holy Water,” fit right into a modern day hymn.“Mona Lisa” is about Leonardo DaVinci and the complex math he used while painting the mysterious figure. Just kidding, but you might think that Jasper’s rhythmic guitar riff on it is like a deceptively hard math problem. It’s so crisp and precise that I couldn’t take my ears off it, especially when it drifts into a slight shoegaze feel that blew
my mind. “Rosemary” is a blues song wrapped in a rock tune and delivered by a postman who sings in a soul band at night. Jasper and his guitar also pay a little respect to Robin Trower on it, which is never a bad thing.

“Snow White” is a song about cocaine and how pissed the character in it is with the fact that he’s never satisfied with anything: his girl, his fast car, his cash, or even his coke. I hope this song isn’t about Jasper’s personal experience, because it portrays a brutal picture (as any good song about drug addiction should). It reminds me of a lot of characters from the film version of American Psycho. The closer, “Someday,” is grand, with swelling guitars and organs, powerful drums, and Jasper’s desire to find the truth and his call for us to do the same.

Someday Cody Jasper will be a powerful and respected name in not only outlaw music circles, but the rock world as well. Judging by this excellent debut, I think that day is right around And if you need more motivation to root for this guy, he still uses his great-grandfather’s 1959 Ephiphone Zephyr amp. How frickin’ cool is that?

~ Nik Havert - Nik Havet

By dint of comparison, the debut album from Austin musician Cody Jasper opens with Black Cadillac, an old blues cotton-field style chant updated with some tasty steel and electric guitar accompaniment. Instead of getting up and dancing, you sit mesmerized in your chair, swaying back and forth to the beat. At that point though, the album picks you by the scruff of the neck and shakes you. From here on, it’s southern blues and rock & roll in the style of the Vaughn brothers or maybe J.J. Grey. There’s lots of guitar and some feedback and even a little vocal homage to Robert Plant in his youth.”

Deal is dirty and swampy and funky, and somehow just a little familiar, like some vague memory from youth. Rosemary is a little slower and leans heavier on the blues than any of the other tunes bar Black Cadillac. Evil Woman is the loudest song on the record with feedback and fuzz and it certainly makes a statement. Snow White puts a little hip-hop flavor in the guitar blues stew, and I have to say it’s a potent mix that left me wanting more.

Both Lost & Nameless and Cody Jasper set me up to anticipate hearing more from them. In the case of Empty Spaces, it’s a studio effort that leads me to want to hear this bunch of crack musicians in a live setting. In the case of Jasper, it’s the idea that here’s someone doing things just a touch differently than all the young, famous, Texas blues guitar players you hear about, and excitement about where he takes his music next. - Shawn Underwood

On Cody Jasper’s debut self-titled record, the former Wildbills singer-guitarist shows that he’s more than just a guitar slinger for hire. It’s more than just a rock and roll act. While he’s adept for guitar swagger, he’s also a capable and proficient singer-songwriter. Cody Jasper isn’t a hollow record bookended by a tough, gritty rock and roll surface. There’s substance on the inside as well.
For just a nine track album, Jasper covers a lot of ground within the 37 minutes of play. He goes from Saturday night rockers such as “Cherry Pie” and “Evil Woman” to exhaling on Sunday morning reflections like “Holy Water” and “Mona Lisa.” That’s where the beauty of the record really shines through.
Everyone loves the exaggerated, larger than life rock persona of “Cherry Pie.” That’s how we want our rock stars. We romanticize the lifestyle of a womanizing wild man rocker. But we also demand to see behind the curtain and view the man within. The lonely morning after. Jasper let’s us in on songs such as “Rosemary.” That’s what makes this record work so well. The serene, self-reflections make the bruising rockers that much better. And vice versa. It usually takes rock bands years to figure that out–and often too late. Luckily, it’s caught on with the 24-year-old Jasper.
We caught up with Jasper a few weeks back on a chilly Blue Light Friday night. Then, he was opening up for contemporaries Taddy Porter. Tonight (Friday, Feb. 21), Jasper returns to The Blue Light with band in hand for an official album release show. Along with Jasper, Thieving Birds will be playing. - Thomas D. Mooney