Sounds of Syracuse:
Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers

by Tiffany Bentley

The founding editor of Acoustic Guitar Magazine lives in Syracuse, NY. His name is Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers. And who better to write about music than someone who is also a performer? A singer/songwriter in the folk music genre, Rodgers’s professional life serves as a double-edged sword as he is also a well-received musician. Rodgers delivers personal anecdotes in his songs and performances, as if he is thinking of his next story or teaching tactic along the way.
His new solo CD, Humming My Way Back Home, offers a welcome resurgence of lighter folk music. His reflections on music journalism and being a performer confront us with an interesting juxtaposition as to the later state of both arts today.

Rodger’s resume includes various positions as a writer and as reviewer for articles for NPR’s All Things Considered and Mojo Magazine. His extensive list of interview subjects includes John Mayer, Dave Matthews, Ben Harper, The Indigo Girls, James Taylor, and Jerry Garcia.

Rodgers’s music is extremely easy on any type of listening ear. His lyrics tell a story, as any good folk song should. But his instrumental talents allow for this story to be told and accepted. He does not come across as just another soloist trying to be the next big inspiration. Rodgers takes his music seriously but uses it in multiple ways to inform his life and his listeners.

His songs, "American Dream," "Only the Soul," and "My Life Doesn’t Rhyme" peak into a life that any listener could relate to. Rodgers is polished yet unpretentious, and his music reflects a life that any father would want to tell their grandchildren. He just gets to tell it in a cooler way. At 43, he has a wife and two young children. He moved from New Jersey to Central New York in 2003. Rodgers has been playing music since he was a teenager. A guitarist percussionist, and vocalist, he was notably inspired by Simon and Garfunkel, Stevie Wonder, Neil Young, The Grateful Dead, and The Beatles. He has studied North Indian Table Drumming in both the US and India where he has lived with his wife and children.

And Pepper IS his real middle name! When writing for the San Francisco Chronicle at a young age, he asked to have the name penned as his byline. It has stuck ever since. He continues to grace Central New York with his playing and knowledge. His performance at The Taste of Syracuse fostered many comments from the crowd and questions on where this guy came from. To the area’s benefit he has planned to stick around. Fortunately, Rodgers has decided to share his insight on writing even further and established a Words and Music Singer Songwriter Showcase that will appear at Jazz Central until October of this year.

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