By Brendan Menapace

Jared Herzog’s journey has come full circle, bringing him back to where his story began.

It all unfolded when Herzog unexpectedly found himself back on TV, a door he thought had closed before it fully opened. Herzog, like many kids with a good singing voice, stage presence, and ambition, auditioned for American Idol when he was a teenager. Judges Harry Connick, Jr., Keith Urban, and Jennifer Lopez passed on him, but they recognized his talent and encouraged him to keep singing.

He did, participating in all-state choruses and eventually pursuing a vocal major at Lee University in Tennessee. He also ran on the cross country team. (You have to keep those lungs in shape somehow, right?)

Later, he auditioned for The Voice as part of a duo. There were a few call-backs with producers, but nothing came of it. However, while in college, there was a chance to audition for The Voice in Nashville.

Herzog was hesitant, having already been through the ringer on American Idol and experiencing the discouragement and judgments of this world, but he gave in to some peer pressure from a friend and his then-girlfriend.

A bit to his own astonishment, he made it through. It was actually a lot to his astonishment, because he hadn’t planned on staying in Nashville that night and had to ask a friend to crash on his couch.

Thus began a bit of a whirlwind experience for Herzog, a kid from Niceville, Florida, who grew up in a very religious household, far removed from the bright lights of show business.

He was now faced with the question of aligning his talents with one of the Voice mentors– Blake Shelton, John Legend or Gwen Stafani, who Herzog confesses he didn’t really know of until the show.

“I grew up in a classical music household, a very Christian household. We didn’t listen to a lot of secular radio, so I didn’t really know her too well,” he laughed. “And so, I went with John Legend. I got to work with John and then Usher as our battle guest coach, which was really cool because I’ve always been a big Usher fan.”

(Now’s the time to check out Tragic Kingdom, Jared. It still holds up.)

Herzog did not win The Voice, but he reflects on the experience without regret. In his opinion, it was a bonus after a few attempts that didn’t make the mark. He’s even still friends with the musician who beat him on the show.

He was playing with house money. Most importantly, he was playing music with new people and getting better each time. So, with college graduation looming in 2020, he was faced with where to go in his life: pursue his musical dream, or pursue what he saw as the “safe” road laid out by his marketing degree. He made the jump to Nashville, figuring he could ultimately feed both sides of his life there.

As it turned out, 2020 was a tough time to find a job in marketing – or really in any industry for that matter. Performing live music was equally challenging.

“I couldn’t get a job in marketing. I couldn’t get a gig anywhere. They weren’t hiring musicians because everything was, you know, affected by the pandemic,” Herzog said. “I was just driving Ubers, and I got to the point where I was having to get some financial assistance from my parents, which I had vowed never to do. I never wanted them to have to take care of me after college was over. And so I made the decision to move back home.”

That decision happened when Herzog was about as far away from Nashville as one could theoretically get and still be within the continental United States. It was during a trip with his father and some friends in Alaska in the fall of 2020 that he found himself really looking at the paths he had taken. He already had experienced so much adventure for a man of this age, including rejection, acceptance, and chasing dreams that typically take a lifetime to pursue for so many people.

Herzog’s seemingly unshakeable confidence—the kind required of star athletes and performers—began to waver. It bent, but didn’t break, while his usual “I’m just happy to be here” attitude became harder to hold onto.

“We were sitting at a little brewery and I was talking to my dad and getting emotional because I felt really discouraged,” Herzog said. “I had all this momentum but the pandemic happened and everything I wondered when I was gonna get an opportunity to do music or even get a job.”

The answer came, and the call was not to Nashville or Hollywood—it was back home, to Florida’s Scenic Highway 30A.

“The next morning, I got a message while we were in Alaska from a little restaurant here on 30A called Old Florida Fish House,” he said. “They ended up offering me a five-day residency, and I never really knew if you could make a living gigging and covering other people’s music. And sure enough, I’ve been stuck with it ever since, and I absolutely love my job.”

That was life until the end of 2021. After about a year of living by himself in Blue Mountain Beach and playing music, the call of the Music City was just too much to ignore, so he gave it another go, this time finding stages along the famed Broadway with rooftop bar gigs from 10 PM to 2 AM. It was exciting, being that close to the country music flame, but Herzog started to accept that he just wasn’t a big-city guy. And if the pandemic taught us anything, it’s that you can chase your dreams from the comfort of your hometown, even if it’s a few miles or a few hours away from the epicenter of that industry.

Time and again, Herzog pursued his dreams, finding success in unexpected places, but something within him kept him rooted on 30A. It wasn’t a tether or anything constricting. It was just something baked into his DNA that recognized he was home, and now that comfort and familiarity allows him to do his best work. Being surrounded by friends and family, including his cousin who moved in with him following a breakup, gave him a sense of stability.

It all gave him a root system, planted firmly in the place he calls home to this day. He’s a quarter-mile from the beach where he takes his dog to run around. His parents and childhood friends live just minutes away. And, of course, he’s still playing music on a regular basis, which was the whole dream he left home to chase in the first place. Ironic, isn’t it, that it was waiting for him here the whole time?

“I love my home,” he said. “I love my hometown. I love my locals. I love my local following. My parents live fifteen minutes down the road. There’s a lot of comfort and peace for me here.”

Even still, Herzog weighed the move back up to Nashville again, and even honed in on a specific apartment, but ultimately chose to remain on 30A. It inspired a song recently, too.

“You know, I just wrote a song a few months ago called ‘Leaving Summer,’ because my intention was to leave and go back to Nashville,” he said. “It was also a love song that I wrote to home and talked about just how deep my love for this area runs.”

It also doesn’t hurt that this particular part of the country has its own rich musical history. It’s not like Nashville has a monopoly on the music industry.

The shoreline and the slower, friendly way of living sometimes attracts the folks from those big show business cities from time to time, like Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, and Chris Stapleton, who have vacation homes in the area, not to mention the producers or label executives with less name recognition looking to escape down South for a break.

Herzog is not naive to this fact.

“A big thing I learned was that half of Nashville and half of Atlanta, and all these producers and artists, come and vacation here,” Jared said. “They have vacation homes here. I’ve made so many incredible connections with people who probably wouldn’t let me in the front door if I was in Nashville. I was just a number up there. But down here, I feel like someone.”

To learn more, visit jaredherzogmusic.live or follow him on Facebook and Instagram.