The Local 913 Podcast

The Local 913 Podcast


Jackson River

May 14, 2018

Mike Meiers, front man for Jackson River, found early musical inspiration from a Pittsburgh legend.

"I was watching Mr. Rogers and I was really like “I NEED to do that.” It seemed like it was one thing I could do. Sports was never really a thing. I knew I couldn’t do that or had no interest. I started doing piano and before I knew it, music was something I felt like I could do. That started to define the thing that I could do and that I really enjoyed.”


Meiers, who was also a runner up in WYEP’s singer-songwriter competition, eventually found his way to the guitar.


“One day I was like “I need to be in a punk band. I can’t play piano.” I started doing guitar, started to figure out some power chords and started taking lessons. Then I started playing in punk bands, started a slew of them and started to tour. Yeah, that was the thing I did for a while.”


Thanks to being a music teacher, Meiers has found himself exposed to a lot of styles of music.


“Two of my students came in and were like “We wanna learn this song by this guy Jason Isbell.” And I was like “I’ve never heard of him.” I listened to “Flying Over Water,” and was like “This is amazing!” I started to listen to him and Drive-By Truckers. I started to go deeper into country and a lot of other folk. I started writing with my friend Jed… because he was really into country and folk. That transformed into Jackson River.”


Be on the lookout for more new music from Jackson River, including a full length this year. More information is on their Facebook.