Country music singer-songwriter Jesse Raub, Jr. still remembers singing and jumping around to the music of The Judds in the back seat of his mother’s Chevrolet Monte Carlo when he was young.
“I would be in the back seat singing louder than everybody, so that was kind of where I realized I had a love for singing,” Raub said.
Originally from Houston, Raub moved with his family to Magnolia when he was 8 years old. He first learned to play guitar when he was 17, and his first heartbreak resulted in his first original song.
“I’ve always been musical,” Raub said. “I just didn’t know how musical I was or could be. Just staying with it and honing your craft—everybody writes bad songs—as you get older and keep writing songs, you start writing better songs.”
Raub has released three albums since 2010; his latest release was “Sittin’ Here” in 2016. He has written or co-written all of his songs so far, and it took some time to find his sound as an artist, he said.
Influenced by country music legends, such as Merle Haggard, Dwight Yoakam and George Jones as well as current artists, such as Kevin Fowler, Roger Creager, Cory Morrow, Cody Johnson and Pat Green, Raub’s sound is classic Texas country mixed with a little bit of rock, he said.
“These guys really started the fire for country music in my soul,” he said.
Looking back at his first album, “Honky Tonkin’ Blues,” Raub said he has learned a lot and come a long way.
“I look back now at the album and I just laugh because I was so green,” he said. “I did not know what I was doing. I didn’t know how to convey to [the producers] what I wanted, what sounded good or what I was looking for. I really didn’t know what I wanted at that point.”
As Raub releases more albums, his singles continue to climb the country music charts. His latest single, “She Can Forgive,” made it to No. 6, and he is planning to release another single, “She’ll Put the Hurt on You,” from his latest album soon.
“I think that [women] will really grab onto the song—I hope they do,” he said. “I think that women rule the world, and this is just one of those songs saying [that].”
With more success, Raub has started being more selective when it comes to venues the band plays because bigger venues attract bigger names, and the talent is treated better, he said. Additionally, Raub has wanted to get away from the bar scene.
“We’ve kind of gotten away from playing the bars,” Raub said. “It’s just hard for us to go in and play the bar scene because I don’t drink. I quit drinking 10 years [ago]. For me, if it’s going to be work then it’s got to be where my family can come first.”
With five Texas tours under his belt and more experience running a band, Raub said he has a better idea of what he wants when he puts an album together. As a result, Raub decided to coproduce his latest album, which he recorded with SC Media in Houston.
“Just getting to get the road map and get a firsthand experience of how [producing] goes has really just been so awesome for me,” he said. “The musical family has just gotten bigger and bigger and to have all these guys just accept you at the end and love the music—it doesn’t get any better than that.”
Some upcoming shows for Raub and his band include the Chevrolet Booth at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and the Outlaws and Legends Music Festival in Abilene, which takes place March 31-April 1.
