Singer/songwriter, Jeff Lane grew up in Kingsport, Tennessee, where he began playing guitar fervently at the age of fourteen, his musical roots watered by his mother’s record collection that was packed full of greats like Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band, The Eagles, Elton John, Jim Croce, Elvis, The Beatles, and the Commodores.
Jeff’s story was mostly private as he hid his passion for songwriting for more than 20 years until a major event brought it to the surface during the economic downturn in 2010. As with many Americans that year, Jeff lost most of what he had worked for including his business and farm but unexpectedly opened a long-awaited musical journey.
Lane formed a band known as Hundred Acres shortly after with longtime friend Matthew Oaks and was quickly discovered by former Nashville guitarist/producer Quentin Horton who produced the band’s first record “Where the Buffalo Roam” which featured Horton on guitar along with Grammy Award-winning guitarist Tim Stafford (Blue Highway/Allison Krause & Union Station) on several tracks. The band debuted the release on Jeff’s 40th birthday at his official first gig.
Although nervous and clumsy on stage at first, the music brought an energy that grew quickly resulting in a second record exactly one year later called “Feels Good”. At this point, Lane had found his sea legs and started dabbling with solo acoustic performances at the urging of mentor Horton. Throughout this time and hundreds of appearances, Lane acquired notoriety as a soulful storyteller with a percussive and tasteful style on guitar and has appeared on several revered stages and radio shows. He has performed in shows with a long list of A-performers and songwriters including Tim Stafford, Chris Knight, Kim Williams, Sean Gasaway, Benjy Gaither, Steve Williams, Aaron Barker, Keith Anderson, Lance Miller, Doug Johnson, Bobby Tomberlin, Mark Steven Jones, Randy Finchum, Lara Landon, Emily Minor, Annie Robinette, Bobby Starnes, Justin Mychals, Karen Reynolds, Mason Reed, Robby Hopkins, Mo Pitney, Bill LaBounty, Carrie Tillis, Willy “Big Eyes” Smith, Holly & Hilary Williams, Bill DiLuigi, Johnathan Dean, Marc-Alan Barnette, PJ Steelman, Scott Southworth, Morgan Alexander, Judy Paster and many more.
A recent description of Jeff as a songwriter came from East TN singer/songwriter/troubadour Scotty Melton who expanded on Jeff as a songwriter…
As a songwriter, Jeff Lane turns hillbilly dialect into high English literature. He sees metaphors in everyday things that are all too often taken for granted. A wedding ring becomes a symbol of life’s unexpected turns: hope and happiness, dreams, despair, lessons learned, loss -and in the end, still hope. A steering wheel becomes a metaphor for the brevity of life; the role of chance and of choices; and how swiftly tragedy can strike in the midst of a laugh. Jeff’s songs are deeply connected to nature and the mountains of his native East Tennessee. The images of hills, trees, and old country barns permeate his songs. He finds the answers to the deepest philosophical questions in the quiet solitude of the countryside. His songs reflect that peace of mind and tranquility are as simple as enjoying the sunrise, working on the farm, and appreciating the small pleasures in life. Jeff’s lyrics are filled with a common sense of wisdom that is planted firmly in the spirituality of the mountains and mountain folks. There is a deep reverence for these folks and their culture in Jeff’s songs, his lyrics filled with old mountain sayings and remedies. These songs also reveal an unpretentious sense of humor and a sharp eye for irony. Jeff writes about real life in an honest, straightforward manner. He writes about love, loves lost, hope, sadness, mortality, nature, home, the road, simple thrills, picking by the campfire, cars, girls, family, and dreams… he writes about those little ironies in life, and he writes from the point of view of one who has found that the grass is just as green on this side. His songs lift you up, and they do not hide behind false eyelashes and masquerades. They are happy, they are sad; they are all about what it means to be alive; and in the end, they offer hope to a world that so often seems without hope. As a performer, Jeff is as much a storyteller as he is a songwriter; he is a true performing Singer-Songwriter: he understands the role of a songwriter and the role of a performer. He is a natural performer: his guitar picking is precise, whether soft and subtle or hard and heavy, always precise. He sings with an air of authority and confidence, yet with a humbleness that endears him to the audience. His command of the stage can turn a loud honky-tonk into a listening room with just a few words. And perhaps most importantly, as entertainment is about being entertained, he entertains; he lifts the listener up. And that is what good music is supposed to do: a good performance of a good song is a prescription for the soul. Jeff Lane is a healer.