Stories Behind The Songs - Jimmie Allen Acoustic Show at Midtown Ballroom

Midtown Events brings you Stories Behind The Songs - Jimmie Allen Acoustic Show Sunday, Nov. 23 at Midtown Ballroom in Bend! Doors 7pm, show 8pm. This is an all ages show.

James Edward Allen (born June 18, 1985) is an American country music singer and songwriter. He is signed to Broken Bow Records imprint Stoney Creek, for which he has released the two singles "Best Shot" and "Make Me Want To" and the 2018 album Mercury Lane. In 2021, he won the Country Music Association Award for New Artist of the Year, becoming only the second black artist to win the category following Darius Rucker's win in 2009.

Allen was born in Milton, Delaware, United States, but moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 2007. During most of his first few years in Nashville, he experienced poverty and often lived out of his car. He auditioned for the tenth season of American Idol, but was cut before the live voting rounds. While on American Idol, he performed with Colton Dixon during one of the group rounds and befriended Scotty McCreery, who eventually won the competition that year. Allen and McCreery later reconnected and toured together after the release of Allen's debut album.

Allen signed a publishing deal with Wide Open Music, a songwriting imprint formed by singer-songwriter Ash Bowers, in 2016. After doing a talent showcase for representatives of Broken Bow Records in early 2017, he was signed to that label's Stoney Creek imprint and released his self-titled debut EP, which Bowers produced. The label's executive vice president said that the decision to sign Allen was one of the fastest they ever made at the label. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic compared the EP's sound to the "slick, assured style" of Thomas Rhett and Sam Hunt. Similarly, Rolling Stone Country writer Brittney McKenna compared Allen's contemporary R&B influences to those artists and Maren Morris. A track from the EP, "Blue Jean Baby", was added to Spotify's "United States Viral 50 chart".

• 2021 CMA AWARD WINNER - NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR
• 2021 ACM AWARD WINNER - NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR
• BILLBOARD ARTIST & SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR
• NAACP IMAGE AWARD NOMINEE
• EMMY AWARD NOMINEE
• GRAMMY NOMINEE FOR NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR 2021
• 1 BILLION + TOTAL ON DEMAND STREAMS
• 3 DOUBLE PLATINUM SINGLES
• 4 TOTA #1 RADIO SINGLES
• ROLLING STONE & BILLBOARD NAMES BETTY JAMES ONE OF THE BEST ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
• OVER 70 NATIONAL TV APPEARANCES
• HOST OF ACM AWARDS
• PAST HOST OF ABC SOUL OF A NATION
• THE TODAY SHOW
• E! DAILY POP
• PAST HOST OF NASHVILLE'S BIG BASH [NEW YEARS EVE SPECIAL ON CBS]
• ACTING DEBUT: THE CONNERS ON ABC
• MENTOR ON: AMERICAN IDOL & THE VOICE
• CONTESTANT ON: DANCING WITH THE STARS

Host or Publisher Midtown Events