Jared Hart is a musician based in Bayonne, New Jersey, who cut his teeth in the alternative/punk scene and has been writing, recording and touring for over two decades, most recently with the group Mercy Union and as a solo artist.
Hart has revealed himself as a writer whose vulnerabilities have become increasingly pronounced in recent years, whether on the poignant The Condor EP or his new release, Midnight Motel, which is out August 28 on his own Mt. Crushmore.
Produced by Hart and Rob Freeman, the record features appearances from Hart’s partner Casey Macalush and Lucero’s Ben Nichols as well as his Mercy Union cohort Nick Jorgensen, among others.
Hart says that the record is partially informed by the glimpses we catch of other humans in the hallways and parking lots of hotels and motels, those places, he recalls, that he visited as a child where there were fresh towels each day and a rotating cast of characters who would appear and disappear overnight. In his adult years, he’s come to contemplate more about the people who gather in these spaces and the lives they live behind those closed doors.
Midnight Motel reveals Hart’s greatest gifts across its10 songs, his ability to create spaces and place listeners within them, his knack for connecting imagined lives with deeply real ones, and his compassion and curiosity which resonate through tracks such as “The Mantle,” “Room Keys” and the closing, “Downwhen.”
Hart recently spoke about the material on Midnight Motel, a collection which he says he didn’t know if he was still connected to after it had been written, his appreciation for the American West, and what has led him to become a more open and vulnerable writer.
Host/Producer: Jedd Beaudoin
Theme music: Torin Andersen
