Jerry Salley – photo © C Shelz Photo
These days most folks see Jerry Salley in his position as A&R Director at Billy Blue Records in Nashville, and might forget that he is also a celebrated artist and songwriter, something he had been doing long before Daywind ever came calling.
We heard from Jerry over the weekend with news that he has completed a music video for his latest single, Colorado Winter, which will be included on his next album, The Songwriter, expected later this year. The song tells of looking for a change of scenery while recovering from a broken heart, and noting that even in sunny Florida, it feels cold when you’re missing someone.
Jerry tells us that the video shoot was quite an adventure, with a wind chill of -60°. He said that every time he tried to smile, his teeth hurt!
“When I released my new single, Colorado Winter, I had not planned on making a performance video for the song. But, I recently got the opportunity to go to Buffalo, Wyoming to perform and teach at the Bluegrass Winter Jam camp there, and to write with my buddy, David Stewart, who owns the Historic Occidental Hotel there.
Although we weren’t in Colorado, it was while we were there – surrounded by the majestic Bighorn Mountains, and during an unusually/extremely cold time, with snow everywhere and beautiful sunshine for several days – that I got the idea to try and find a videographer to shoot. I thought, ‘when will I ever get the chance again to shoot a video in this magnificent part of the country?’ And, it was the perfect landscape to record Colorado Winter.
After some inquiring, I reached out to a young man named Brendyn Petron, who lived about 20 miles away, and had experience shooting music videos. We were able to coordinate our schedules so that he could come and shoot all of the winter scenes on a beautiful day when it was -23° outside. BRRRRRR!!!
I never have before, nor will I ever again, record a video in weather that cold. But, it was so much fun, and a great experience. After Brendyn shot his footage, it was sent to my friend, videographer Shaye Smith, who took Brendyn’s video footage and created the rest of the video. I’m very grateful for the opportunity to have done this, and, for the wonderful experience I got from doing it.
We were simply inspired by the gorgeous snow and mountains, surrounded by the Bighorn mountains. It was absolutely beautiful, even though it was the coldest weather I have ever been in!!!”
With Salley singing lead, studio support came from Jason Roller on guitar and fiddle, Justin Moses on mandolin and reso-guitar, Aaron McDaris on banjo, and Jeff Partin on bass.
Check it out…
Colorado Winter is available now from popular download and streaming services online, and to radio programmers via AirPlay Direct.
