Jonas Martin, Wesley Geiger

About: Jonas Martin is a songwriter and performer from Dallas, TX. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @_omgitsjonas_
Description: Jonas Martin is a Dallas-based songwriter and performer who always serves his music with a side of sarcasm. Pulling from legendary songwriters like Randy Newman, Ray Davies and Harry Nilsson, Martin weaves personal self-observation and social commentary with the fundamentals of rock and roll. The result is a gritty breed of musical satire with a sound reminiscent of modern musicians like Jack White or The Black Keys.

Since his father was a radio disc jockey for most of Martin's childhood (working at 98.7 KLUV in Dallas, among others), Martin grew up listening to an archive of classic musical icons. He played a variety of instruments throughout his younger years but found that he had a passion for piano and other keyboard instruments in his early twenties. In 2009, Martin landed a gig in a Beatles tribute band called From Us To You, in which he was really able to hone his playing and songwriting skills. Thereafter he was picked up by indie rockers Goodnight Ned and recorded the band's debut Smoke from the Sails, which earned a spot among the "Top 10 Albums of 2012" on dfDubReport. He also plays with several other DFW-based bands including Larry g(EE), Cody Jasper, J. Charles & the Train Robbers, Bad Mountain and The Hazardous Dukes.

Martin has shared the stage with acts like Holly Golightly, Sons of Fathers, The Weeks, ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Caitlin Rose, Turnpike Troubadours, The Toadies and Sarah Jaffe. With Goodnight Ned's most recent release, "Ned", he has graced the No. 1 spot on Central Track's buzz rankings and been nominated for "Best Local Music Release", "Best Album", "Best Group Act" and "Best Rock Act" by the Dallas Observer (2014).

On his first solo endeavor, Chokecherry Jam, due out in early 2015, Martin flexes his songwriting muscles, giving listeners a direct line into a heartfelt, if often times wry, way of thinking. Recorded at Nest Recording Studios in Dripping Springs, TX and Electrophunck Recording in Dallas, Chokecherry Jam boasts a lineup of DFW rock royalty, including Jason Burt (guitar, vocals, production), Nick Jay (bass, organ, piano, production), Wade Cofer (bass, drums, guitars, vocals), Nate Wedan (drums, percussion), and Jon Knudson (organ, violin, saxophone). The album was mastered by six-time Grammy award winner Brian Lucey, who has mastered albums for The Black Keys, Dr. John, Arctic Monkeys, Dr. Dog, Ray LaMontagne and many others.

Whether he's singing about insomnia, love, philosophical turmoil or erectile dysfunction, Martin makes it clear there's no topic that can't be turned into a punch line.


Wesley Geiger has spent a lot of time on the road, and his debut album dignifies the journey. Throughout the El Dorado project, Wesley divided his time between Texas and California — earning a degree in music in the Los Angeles area and working in Dallas during breaks from school. He drove his pickup the 1,500 miles between those two cities more than a dozen times, and those trips significantly influenced his songwriting. He explored the southwest, camped off the beaten path and absorbed the silence of the desert.

Gram Parsons, Joni Mitchell, Jerry Jeff Walker, Townes van Zandt and Neil Young became influences. And he got to know the art of more recent songwriters such as Ryan Adams, Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes) and Jeff Tweedy (Wilco). American authors Wendell Berry, John Steinbeck and Wallace Stegner informed his understanding of our relationships with geography and the road.

The result is El Dorado, a nine-song album that explores the distance between getting lost and being found. El Dorado was produced and mixed by Beau Patrick Bedford, primarily at a small cabin north of Dallas where Wesley and Beau escaped the noise of the city to craft an expansive sonic landscape.