Jake Owen Shoots GAC’s "Origins"

Jake Owen performs at the VAULT Concert Stage at LP Field in Downtown Nashville Friday, June 12 during the 2009 CMA Music Festival. Photographer: John Russell / CMA.

July 23, 2009 — It’s a 780-mile trip from Vero Beach, Fla., to Nashville, but it seemed a whole world away for Jake Owen during much of his life.

This week, he returned to the Miracle Mile in his hometown to shoot GAC’s Origins, a series that looks at the history of some of country’s most important talent. Jake visited the Riverside Café, where he honed his abilities as a live performer, and dropped by Melody Music, an instrument store where he bought a guitar or two during his high-school years.

"It’s pretty surreal to come back to where it all originated for me," Jake told The Vero Beach Press Journal. "To think that this is where I got my first guitar and now I can buy my own sheet music here, it’s unbelievable."

Country was not Jake’s original career choice. He had his eye on professional golf, though an injury cut that pursuit short. Jake visited Vero Beach’s Golf Roundup during Monday’s shoot, which had its own strange twist. Just nine years ago, when he graduated from high school, Jake was just another kid in the community trying to figure out what to do with his life. Now, he’s a budding star with a familiar face, and during his lunch break, a fan asked him to autograph her vehicle.

"If I rewound the tape of my life," Jake said, "I wouldn’t believe that I’d be here today, signing the hood of somebody’s car."

Jake’s edition of Origins will debut on GAC in September. In the meantime, he can be seen on TV when ABC airs CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night To Rock on Aug. 31. Jake will perform his current single, "Eight Second Ride," alongside appearances by Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, Brooks & Dunn, Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, Reba McEntire and others in a three-hour special.