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Bixby Picks Up the Pen for Easy to Love

When Jaydee Bixby first looked at the lyrics to Tom Cochrane’s The Boy Inside the Man, he figured there was no way that he would be able to record this song and have anyone take him seriously.

“I’m thinking, ‘No one’s going to believe this!’” recalls Bixby. “I haven’t even made it to the second age in the song yet.”

However, following some revisions by Cochrane to the song’s lyrics, Bixby recorded and released what would become his first single off of his sophomore album, Easy to Love. His version chronicles a man’s hopes and expectations for the future, which is a fitting story for an artist who has yet to turn 20.

Easy To Love, which was released May 25th on On Ramp Records, demonstrates Bixby’s personal and artistic growth since being named runner-up to Brian Melo on Canadian Idol in 2007. “This whole album is basically an older version of me,” the 19-year-old Drumheller native affirms. “It’s more sincere and honest.”

It’s also a pretty good album. In addition to Boy Inside the Man, Easy to Love boasts a solid array of tracks. The album’s title track showcases a more vulnerable side to the Alberta-raised cowboy, and Tailgate may well go down in the books beside Aaron Pritchett’s Let’s Get Rowdy or Toby Keith’s Get Drunk and Be Somebody as another danceable, honky tonk anthem.

A large part of Bixby’s artistic development comes from his increased involvement in the songwriting aspect of the album. As a result, he hopes that his listeners will feel more connected to him.

“[I’ve written about] a lot of the stuff I’ve been going through,” says Bixby, who co-wrote nine of the 10 songs on Easy to Love. It is a notable feat for someone who didn’t think he was “too good of a writer.”

“I’m just writing about what I know,” he says simply. “Everybody writes their own way, and I figured out how I can do it. I like to think that I’m developing [my writing talent], slowly but surely.”

“You practice at anything and it only gets better,” he adds.

Of course, Bixby’s time spent in Nashville, surrounded by industry professionals and songwriters like John Higgins, was bound to help him come into his own as a writer.

“It was cloud nine,” he says of his experience in Music City. “Going down there and learning [about] all aspects of the music industry…it was so valuable.”

It’s evident that Bixby also values those around him who have helped him develop musically. “The difficulties in making an album depend on the people you have working with you,” he declares. “The crew that I have, my producers [John Webster and Bill Buckingham], and my own band…I couldn’t be happier with [them]."

“There’s always points where [I wonder] if I am doing the right thing,” Bixby admits. “That’s why there’s family and the people who work with you…they keep you on your feet and grounded.”

Perhaps the key to Bixby’s success thus far is his single-minded focus on achieving his goals. “I’ve had my eye on the prize since I was knee-high to a grasshopper,” recalls Bixby. “I wrote down my dreams and goals and read them everyday. I always focused on them and knew what I wanted…It worked fine for me.”

That formula seems to be working pretty darn good so far and Easy to Love attests as much. As Bixby himself states, “[the album] just screams my name.”