Music / Jake Owen

An American Country Music singer from the 21st century. He is known for his easygoing ballads and party songs. He got his record contract in 2005 after writing a song for Kenny Chesney, even though Chesney ultimately did not record the song.

Owen's 2006 debut on RCA Records, Startin' with Me was a modest success, producing a Top 10 country hit in its title track. Easy Does It got him into the Top 5 for the first time with its title track, also including the fan favorite "Eight Second Ride". Barefoot Blue Jean Night (2011) finally broke him through, producing four consecutive #1 hits in the title track, "Alone with You", "The One That Got Away", and "Anywhere with You". Days of Gold (2013) netted him another #1 hit in 2014 with "Beachin'", and American Love produced "American Country Love Song". In 2018, he moved to Big Loud Records, an independent label started by producer Joey Moi and songwriter Craig Wiseman.

Owen is known for his laid-back, mellow songs with heavy production, as codified by "Barefoot Blue Jean Night".

Albums

• Startin' with Me (2006)
• Easy Does It (2009)
• Barefoot Blue Jean Night (2011)
• Days of Gold (2013)
• American Love (2016)
• Greetings from... Jake (2019)

Tropes present in his work

• Bowdlerize:
  • For no obvious reason, "Eight Second Ride" changed "Climb on up, but honey, watch the cup that I'm spitting my dip inside" to "spitting my dip tonight", thus causing "tonight" to rhyme with itself.
  • More understandable is an edit on the line "batshit on tequila" on "Down to the Honkytonk".
• Career-Ending Injury: He originally wanted to be a golfer, but a serious wakeboarding accident resulted in reconstructive surgery that left him unable to keep golfing.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: His first two albums have much lighter production and are more dominated by ballads, outside a couple uptempos like "Yee Haw" and "Eight Second Ride". The heavily-produced yet laid-back and beachy style didn't really come into play until Barefoot Blue Jean Night.
• Genre Roulette: Hard-rocking up-tempos ("Eight Second Ride", "Barefoot Blue Jean Night", "Days of Gold"), neo-traditional country ("Startin' with Me"), rich-voiced pop ballads ("What We Ain't Got"), and even a stab at early-2000s Smash Mouth-esque pop rock ("Real Life").
• Listing Cities: Parts of "Anywhere with You" do this.
• Loudness War: Very present on Barefoot Blue Jean Night and Days of Gold, a common fault of Joey Moi's production style (although noticeably averted on "What We Ain't Got").
• Raised Lighter Tribute: "Barefoot Blue Jean Night" has this line:
  Never gonna grow up, never gonna slow down
  We were shinin' like lighters in the dark in the middle of a rock show
• Re-release the Song: "Eight Second Ride" originally appeared on his debut album. Due to fan demand, the song was moved up to his second album, from which it was released as a single.
• The One That Got Away: The third single from Barefoot Blue Jean Night, "The One That Got Away" is about a lost summer love.
• Shout-Out:
  • "I Was Jack (You Were Diane)" heavily references John Mellencamp's "Jack and Diane" and even samples its riffs.
  • "Down to the Honkytonk" name-drops "Friends in Low Places".
• Uncommon Time: "What We Ain't Got" is in 7/4.