Aaron Lee Tasjan LIVE at The State Room

The State Room Presents
AARON LEE TASJAN
FRI, 9 OCT 2026 at 08:00PM MDT
Ages: 21 & Over
Doors Open: 07:00PM
OnSale: Fri, 17 Apr 2026 at 10:00AM MDT
Announcement: Wed, 15 Apr 2026 at 10:00AM MDT

Aaron Lee Tasjan
Get Over It, Underdog
Aaron
Lee Tasjan was experiencing the worst bout of imposter syndrome of his career
w
hen he sat down and wrote Todd Snider a vulnerable
email
asking for advice.
Tasjan
,
despite writing and recording some of the
most
astute
Americana rock
songs of the
last
decade
and being nominated for a Grammy
, just didn
’
t
see a
future
for an independent
singer, songwriter, and guitarist
like himself.
Snider
read Tasjan
’
s email
and immediately replied
:
“
I think I have some
ideas
. I
’
ll write
you back tomorrow.
”
The next morning, Tasjan awoke to a
signature
Todd Snider missive
for how to move
forward as an artist
. It was a
novel
-
length
email
that read like the battle plans for the
Invasion
of Normandy. Do this, Snider wrote. Then this. But never
that
.
The specifics
don
’
t matter
—
besides, that
’
d be giving away the secret
—
but Tasjan devoured his
mentor
’
s words and took them to heart.
He began writing feverishly, unbothered by expectations
and immune to
any
pressure
to
match his acclaimed albums like
In the Blazes
,
Karma for Cheap
, or his most recent,
2024’
s
Stellar Evolution
. When he was through,
Tasjan
had
Get Over It, Underdog
, his
most
inspiring
LP
to date. Produced by Tasjan and his
longtime s
ound engineer Mark
Miller, the
album
is a
celebration
of
the
power of songwriting
,
the unbreakable bond of
friendship
, and the
determination
of the dark horse.
“
I went to the ultimate oasis for a singer, songwriter, and troubadour: Todd Snider
.
And
he said, i
n very Todd fashion,
‘
You can find your path forward by going backwards,
’”
Tasjan says with a laugh.
“
But he was right.
I set aside my ego, played shows
solo
without my band, and wrote a lot of songs
. In that process, I found my confidence
again.
”
Tragically,
however, he lost his mentor. Snider
died shortly after
Get Over It, Underdog
,
was finished,
leaving a void in the
folk
-
rock
scene tha
t will
prove
nearly impossible to fill.
But Tasjan is committed to
carrying on Snider
’
s
unbridled
spir
it
and lifting up underdogs
everywhere.
Over 11 tracks, Tasjan
’
s new album
kills
sacred cows and
pokes holes in
the
dam
,
while
leaning hard into the idea of perseverance
.
In the talking
-
blues of
“
Science Friction,
”
he
tells an abridged origin story of
civilization
that culminates
with
humankind
editing itself
out of
its own
picture
.
“
Man made machines/putting man out of business
,
”
he sings
with
Aaron Lee Tasjan Bio.docx
a knowing wink
.
“
Lost & Alone,
”
meanwhile, finds him feeling like a
“
stranger in this
town.
”
It
’
s a compact blast of indie
-
rock with a sing
-
along chorus that underscores
Tasjan
’
s gift for writing infectious hooks.
In
“
Twilight Zone Blues,
”
a shot of gritty T. Rex glam
-
r
ock, Tasjan
wonders
why
we
’
re
compelled
to press the
mysterious
button
just to
find out
what happens
.
“
In society
today, all this
bad shit can become tempting, especially as the situation feels more and
more dangerous as time goes on
,”
he says.
“‘
Twilight
Zone Blues
’
build
s
to that
tension
of
, ‘
W
hat happens if I just give in to this
or
succumb to that
?’”
And in
the story
-
song
“
Ballad of an East Canton Lowlife,
”
Tasjan returns to his
adolescent years in Ohio, where he
moved with his family from Orange
County,
California
, at 13
.
The
vitriol
he
felt
in Ohio as an outsider was unavoidable, but he
learned to
defuse
it.
“
All
these
folks
feel like they have their back up against a wall
,
cornered by what society is trying to force them to fit into
.
As a transp
lant into a town
that was being
redeveloped,
I
represent
ed
something that they
saw
as
different, and
I
’
d
b
ear
the brunt of
their anger,
”
he says.
“
But
then I
could
turn around and sing them a
Johnny Cash
or a Charley Pride
song and suddenly everybody's dancing.
That was the
power of music
to me.
”
Tasjan took pains to make sure that each song on
Get Over It, Underdog
was as
concise and
potent as it could be. Often, he
’
d run them by Snider
for critiques
, who
shared stories o
f how the
American
songwriting
treasure
John Prine
did likewise
for him
early in his career
.
The goal
in writing
was always
to find
the
“
emotional rock to stand
on
”
of
each song.
Onc
e
Tasjan had that,
he learned from Snider, he had something
personal.
“
Songs are like mantras
—
you
’
ve
got to say them every night
,”
Tasjan
recalls Snider
challenging
him.
“
So,
what's in there that you're repeating every night?
”
Tasjan found
one such
mantra in the
“
The Real
,
”
a song that sums up
Get Over It,
Underdog
.
A
n empowering singalong
with
a
gang vocal
refrain
and
a snaking guitar line,
it takes
a hard look at
all that is authentic in today
’
s culture
, both the good and the bad.
“
Tell of our true history/violence that we must see
,”
Tasjan sings.
“
I
t's up to us to h
eal it/
Sing this, if you feel it
!”
It
’
s as much a song for the artist as it is the listener.
“
That
’
s the point
where I start talking to myself in
the
song and reconnecting with
my
mission
,”
Tasjan
says.
“
I want to make songs that help people. I want to
be an artist in
Aaron Lee Tasjan Bio.docx
the service to the community of music fans
, b
ut also to anybody that needs to hear
these messages.
On
Get Over It, Underdog
,
I
’
m rediscovering
something I thought I had
lost.
”
Tasjan needn
’
t worry.
His
mantras
are coming through
loud and clear