SONG PREMIERE: Jared Deck Stuns With “Fired Up” – Powerful Soul Workout Meets Working Class Anthem

Photo by Kriea Arie

“Hi, I’m Jared Deck and I represent the people of Oklahoma’s 44th District,” reads the singer-songwriter with the mighty vocal prowess on the State of Oklahoma gov. website. Yes, that’s right, the Democratic State Represenative has got something to say beyond the dome halls of Oklahoma City.

Beyond The Sooner State, perhaps Deck needs to visit Southern California and teach all the record label darlings a lesson or two on how grit and fuck yeah vocals are what it’s about. Chris Stapleton has won over the bigwigs, and perhaps this Okie is next “on deck” – excuse the pun.

Glide is premiering “Fired Up” off his upcoming album Head Above Water, in which Deck makes ears take notice with a powerful honky tonk soul vibrato that would make Nathaniel Rateliff sound like a rookie.

“As an Okie, I’d like to think of myself as a disciple of the red dirt attitude begun by Woody Guthrie, transformed by Leon Russell, perfected by Jimmy LaFave, and carried forward by Red Dirt Rangers. Musically, you can hear how highly influenced I am by Leon’s time with Joe Cocker.  Lyrically speaking, there’s a pain in this bloodstained soil yearning for its stories to be told, and I hope to continue that storytelling tradition,” explains Deck about “Fired Up.”

Produced by Dwight Hamlin of The Wight Lighters, the album features performances by guitarist Clint Pope, bassist Bryan Walters, vocalist James Cook, keyboardist Dan Walker of Heart, fiddler Jake Simpson of The Lil Smokies, and drummer Colby Bunch of Holly Beth and Lance Roark. “Dwight provided a calm and comfortable environment that made us feel at home.”

That voice isn’t going unnoticed. During an impromptu afternoon show on a back alley patio in Amarillo, TX, Jared was surprised to see his hero, Alejandro Escovedo, in the crowd. “He’d been listening for some time, but I didn’t see him,” Deck recalled. “When he walked around the corner, it felt like a movie.” Escovedo complimented him, saying “You have a powerful, beautiful voice.” It was an unforgettable moment for the young songwriter.

There is a magnetic guitar solo and plenty of spiritual bombast that makes “Fired Up” like a contagious jubilee. Yet the tune in Deck’s words is a “call for working people to unite and demand better than the system we’ve been given.”

“We’re all trying to get ahead in a just-getting-by world, but housing crashes, oil field busts, and inflation crush us just when we start seeing light at the end of the tunnel. We’re the ones building the products they sell while some companies get tax breaks for outsourcing our jobs. That very thing happened to me and and my coworkers at a factory in western Oklahoma. We got off a 12 hour shift at 7am and were handed a note to return at 9:30am for a plant wide meeting, at which we were given the news. I was fortunate to be young, but it was heartbreaking for so many who had made careers there. The next year, the market tanked and our 401ks took a dive. We have a limited amount of time on this planet and renting that time out for hire shouldn’t be the sole mission of our existence. We appreciate those who hire us, but we also appreciate fair treatment and honest pay for honest work,” explains Deck.

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