Get Up-Close and Personal with Jerrod Niemann from Bud Light and Y100!

Jerrod Niemann is not a typical country artist, and the audacious, groundbreaking Judge Jerrod & The Hung Jury is a far cry from a typical country album. With the first track, which is a humorously hyperbolic movie trailer, and the attention-grabbing lyrics of the opening song, "They Should Have Named You Cocaine," listeners quickly realize they're in for an extraordinary ride.

Niemann’s debut CD includes up-tempo cuts, heartache balladry, wicked wordplay and a couple of cool covers, all woven together with short comedic interludes. The 20 tracks constitute a progressive, album-length voyage into utterly unique territory in the country music landscape.

The first single, “Lover, Lover,” is a groove-oriented, handclap-fueled #1 smash that features nine vocal parts, all recorded by Niemann himself.

Jerrod shows his sensitive side with his new song “What Do You Want,” the emotional centerpiece of the album. “That was the first time I had ever written a song truly from the heart,” Niemann admits. “I wasn’t trying to write a hit song. I just wanted to get it out of my system. I was missing an ex-girlfriend, and I would just start the process of getting over her, and then I’d hear from her. So that’s how that song came about.”

With one listen of the CD, it's obvious that the recording sessions for Judge Jerrod were a blast. Ironically, Niemann's personal life at the time was in tatters.

Although Niemann had experienced triumphs as a songwriter — with his songs being recorded by Garth Brooks, Jamey Johnson, Julie Roberts and Blake Shelton — he yearned to be a performer himself. Things weren’t going well in that regard. He had signed a recording contract, only to see the deal fall apart. Niemann signed another recording contract, but that one also failed to come to fruition. Then his life took a turn for the worse.

"I was at rock bottom," he recalls. "I had horrible depression. I ran off a girl I was dating, and she moved clear to India. I gained 60 pounds, so I looked like the Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters. I didn't write a song for almost a year. That's when I ran into Jamey Johnson, at that point in my life. He said, 'Man, I can tell you're not yourself. Why don't you go cut a record? That's what I did, and it changed my life.' And Jamey was right. So I took a year to record the album, and by the end of that process, I had lost every bit of the weight. It's amazing how doing something that you love can change your inner self and your outer appearance."

Jerrod says, "We called it Judge Jerrod & The Hung Jury, but it's not so much because I'm a judge. Instead, it's about the idea that everybody is going to judge me and my band for making this album. Whenever you attempt to do anything different or unique, people are going criticize it. But that's okay. I've been made fun of my whole life. Why stop now?"

After graduating from Liberal High School, Niemann studied music for two years at South Plains College in Levelland, Texas. Then he moved to Fort Worth, where he honed his songwriting and learned how to win over tough crowds in bars. He moved to Nashville in 2000.

Today, Jerrod Niemann is "living his dream."    You'll get a chance to hear songs form his CD and hang with Jerrod, at the Up-Close and Personal.

You can't buy passes for any Up-Close and Personal, the only wan to get in, is to win!   Set all your radios to Y100 and listen all day, everyday to score passes.

Jerrod Niemann Up-Close and Personal from Bud Light and Y100!