Jag Star

Pop/rock group Jag Star has earned the title “best independent group” by winning audiences over, fan by fan, for the last 5 years. This popular Knoxville, TN-based band has been featured in Vanity Fair and Billboard Magazine, and was recently included on Blender Magazine’s CD compilation. They were chosen to perform at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, featured in a VH-1/Budweiser television ad, and also garnered a considerable amount of commercial radio support, a rare achievement by a group with no label support. Says lead singer/songwriter Sarah Lewis, “People always ask us ‘how did you do that by yourselves’ and I say hard work pays off. We go after everything, and we’ve proven that we are a solid effort, in our recordings and our touring. We’re blessed to have made it this far on our own, and it’s very exciting.” Lewis recently won the Grand Prize in the USA Songwriting Competition, beating out 28,000 other songwriters from all over the world. The winning song, “Mouth”, is featured on their 2002 release “Crazy Place”.

Jag Star’s latest release, 2004’s “Cinematic”, has received rave reviews. “Musicianship is
superb….ambient pop tunes that can be appreciated by a wide range of audience…Heroine Sarah Lewis can talk to the kids as well as the thirty-somethings…old school pop sensibility…..this package is better than ones cooked up by major record labels” (Enigma). Their music is featured on MTV’s “Road Rules”, “The Real World”, “Strong Medicine”, “Good Girls Don’t”, and the “Laguna Beach DVD”. They’ve shared the stage with Macy Gray, Dashboard Confessional, Edwin McCain, Jordan Knight, Michelle Branch, and were picked as a top 10 finalist in Dick Clark’s “Coca-Cola New Music Award” competition. But their proudest moment to date? “Our overseas tours for the troops, for sure”, says Lewis. Jag Star traveled to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Qatar, Bahrain, Kyrgystan, Singapore, Guam, Hawaii, etc… to perform concerts for the troops. They lived in the tents, and came back with a greater appreciation for the military and their families.

One listen to a Jag Star song and you’re hooked. This pop group has a dreamy quality, and the lyrics deliver more depth than normally expected from pop music. As one critic said, “These songs are catchy and ready for radio, but at the same time, thoughtful, insightful, and definitely refreshing.”