Country singer Jay Allen brings Night of Hope tour to Jergel's in Warrendale

Country rock singer Jay Allen has seen the power of music first-hand.

When the Iowa native’s mother was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s, he said one thing that could bring back the woman who raised him was country music. The genre was a constant fixture in her pickup truck when Allen was young.

“My mother would pick me from whatever practice or from working on the farm after school and it was always the local country station,” Allen said. “We would laugh and cry and sing every word at the top of our lungs until I got home.”

The first time Allen’s mother visited him in Nashville after her diagnosis, he said that she looked right through him. She no longer knew her only son — that is, until he took her out dancing at a local country bar.

“I started slow dancing with my mom to a fast song right in front of the stage,” he said. “I felt my mom take a deep breath and she leaned in and she said, ‘Oh, I love you Jay. It’s so good to see you. It’s so good to be here.’”

The experience inspired Allen’s song “Blank Stares,” a song that describes the feelings of love and loss when mother and son were able to recognize each other as Alzheimer’s slowly separated them. He said that music would bring back a sparkle in her eye that the disease had taken from her.

Allen said that within a year of being diagnosed, his mother had changed from a vibrant, 50-year-old woman to a woman who looked elderly and physically sick.

“She raised me to make me feel like I was so loved and so important and so special,” Allen said. “Alzheimer’s stole that from me.”

He has been raising awareness for Alzheimer’s since his mother’s diagnosis. His efforts have helped him raise more than $100 million in partnership with the National Alzheimer’s Association.

Allen, 37, moved away from his childhood home when he was 16. He attended the University of Northern Iowa before journeying to Georgia where he worked as a music director at a mega church and toured as a Christian artist. His adventures then landed him in Nashville, where he’s been for the past 11 years.

“I grew up just feeling like I wasn’t home,” he said. “My family was my family, and that was home. I just always felt like I was supposed to go somewhere else.”

Despite starting his life over at 27, Allen said he felt like he was meant for Nashville – “the town of dreamers.” He’s felt drawn to traveling. While Allen tours, he experiences as many things as he can while spreading his message of Alzheimer’s awareness.

His career has led him to unique experiences, including competing on the televised singing competition “The Voice,” and making history in the United States Capitol building.

Allen partnered with MSNBC news anchor Richard Lui to make music for a documentary that Lui was making about Alzheimer’s disease called “Unconditional.” Allen showed Lui his song “Break From Broken” and it was included in the film.

First Lady Jill Biden invited Allen and Lui to a viewing of the film in the Capitol building and invited Allen to perform his song there – making him the first artist in history to perform a song other than the national anthem on the building’s stage.

Allen said that in his constant travels for touring, he’s learned that his version of home isn’t a place. It’s the people. He’s found his sense of belonging in his friends, the crew he tours with, his family and his wife, Kylie.

“Wherever my wife is,” Allen said. “That’s home to me.”

Allen always gravitated toward community and the energy that comes from being around other people. It’s how he discovered he could sing. Growing up in Iowa, his father owned a small cafe that attracted friendly-faced regulars, two of whom were a married couple, Ron and Lyla, who began taking 4-year-old Allen to church with them.

“It was super old school but I sang (hymns) from the top of my lungs and Ron heard me,” Allen said. “One Sunday he looked down at me and said ‘Oh, you can actually sing really well.’”

Allen was charged with singing a solo the next Sunday. His first performance received a standing ovation.

“It just stuck with me,” he said. “It just built me up and brought something out of me.”

Allen has been performing ever since. He embarked on his Night of Hope tour on March 14.

“We want to create a safe place for people to get away from the crazy world for the night and party,” Allen said. “We also want a safe place for people to have an experience where I share my heart and they feel like they can as well.”

Allen said that he connects with country rock music because it is the perfect combination of his childhood, his past musical lives and his parents’ love.

“It’s healing,” he said. “One minute I’m on stage with an alcoholic beverage in my hand and we’re rocking and rolling and the next we’re having a really human, authentic moment sharing our faith and shedding tears.”

Where his mother was all country, his father is all rock ‘n’ roll. Allen described his father as a rock music-loving hippie who’s covered in tattoos. His father introduced him to bands like Styx, Kansas, Matchbox 20, 3 Doors Down, Bush and Rush. Allen remembers his first concert like it was yesterday — Kansas had opened for Styx.

“It’s like the two have intertwined to make me become who I am – the guy dressed in all black, covered in tattoos, rocking out on stage but keeping that country side of me there, too,” Allen said.

Allen will perform at Jergel’s Rhythm Grille in Warrendale on March 21 at 8 p.m. For tickets or more information, visit jergels.com.