His story begins like most musicians; he was raised in Alabama in a poor but highly musical household.  He started singing gospel music with the church choir, but soon became a formally trained musician; understanding music theory as early as junior high.  He spent eight years as a member of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves, but realized music and Nashville was what he truly wanted.  In 2000 he used every dime he had and moved to Nashville.  Being the hard worker that he is, he started his own construction company and sang nightly at the Nashville hotspots hoping for that big break.  He landed a job singing songwriters “demo” tapes and soon word got out about Jamey and in 2005 he landed his first recording contract.  His first hit, “The Dollar.” 

Soon the recording company lost interest and Jamey ended up bringing his distinctive sound to Mercury Records.  They have given him complete creative freedom and he has not let them down.  His awards, plaques, trophies and nominations have been adding up along the way as well.  He has received songwriter awards, most notably for “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” which he co-wrote for Trace Adkins, a Song of The Year Award from both the Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association, a Gold Record for the album The Lonesome Song and during 2009 and 2010 he amassed five Grammy Award nominations.  Jamey’s landmark project was the 25-song double album The Guitar Song.  It contains thematically linked sets of songs called the “Black Album” and the “White Album.”  It is a two hour musical collection that was recorded in Los Angeles, Nashville and even at Jimmy Buffett’s Shrimp Boat Studio in Key West, Florida.  It took three years, but it was well worth it to Jamey.  “The original idea was always to do a double album.  It is an album that is a tale.  The first part of it is a very dark and sordid story.  And then everything after that is progressively more positive, reassuring and redemptive.”