Jaron and the Long Road to Love photo courtesy of Jaronwood Records/Universal Republic/Big Machine Records.

To launch a new artist, record companies devise a marketing plan and execute it with precision. Artists hone their sound and carefully develop an image they unleash at an appointed time. Yet sometimes it’s as simple as relying on the fans and the music itself to set the course for a career. In launching Jaron And The Long Road to Love, Country music’s newest phenomenon trusted in the latter road to success.

After more than a decade in entertainment that included a run at the top of the Pop charts, Jaron decided to steer his own ship and count on the fans to put the wind in his sails. They didn’t let him down. He posted his debut single on Facebook and fans began calling country radio and requesting "Pray for You." It wasn’t Music Row record executives, but his fans that decided Jaron was a Country artist and began their own grassroots promotion of his debut single, "Pray for You." The song has already topped Billboard’s Heatseekers chart and has been selling over 34,000 units a week on iTunes marking 22 consecutive weeks of sales increases at press time.

"There are really two stories to tell and one is about the music and one is about the process and how I got here and there is a thread between them both," says Jaron, who launched his own label, Jaronwood Records, then partnered with Universal Republic and Big Machine to release his debut album Getting Dressed in the Dark.

He describes Jaronwood as "a fan led company, meaning we take our cue from what the audience wants. They picked ‘Pray for You’ as the first single. That’s how it happened. Not only are the country music fans great and supportive, but in my case, they broke me. They called radio and said ‘we heard this song on Facebook or MySpace. I want to hear this song!’ and that’s how it started."

The "Pray for You" video has become a hit on GAC and has garnered more than 2.5 million hits on You Tube.

"I listen to my fans and give them what they want," says Jaron. "I treat them the way that I would want to be treated, and it’s not just a push relationship. It’s not just ‘Go buy my record!’ It’s a pull relationship. I want to know what they are doing. I want to know what they think. I want to know how their day is and I respond to every single person on my Facebook wall. I’ve got 15,500 people. I spend as much as 10 hours a day sometimes. I make time because they make time for me. I know that there is going to come a time when I can’t respond to everybody, but I can do my best and I don’t allow anybody to speak on my behalf. They know it’s me."