Jason Michael Carroll photo courtesy of Arista Nashville
May 23, 2007 — Jason Michael Carroll says he's not planning to follow in the footsteps of artists such as Blake Shelton and Dierks Bentley, who both eventually cut their long hair. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but Jason tells Dial-Global that changing his image has never worked for him in the past.
"I was talking to a record label about six years ago," he says, "and they said, 'Jason, we love your voice, but we want somebody more traditional looking.' I said, 'I can be traditional!' I cut my hair off, I went to starched shirt, starched jeans, everything. I put on a cowboy hat, which I still wear every now and then, and I did all the things they said they wanted. Two weeks after I did it, the rep that I was talking to got fired and I got lost in the shuffle. So, there I was with no record deal and no hair."
Jason says he used that as a life lesson and told himself, "If they're gonna like me, they're gonna like me for who I am."