Jake Etheridge, a young American singer-songwriter and musician, is part of The Common Linnets, the Dutch country-bluegrass group initiated by singer Ilse DeLange.

The Common Linnets represented The Netherlands at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark, with the song Calm After The Storm, eventually earning the second place in the grand final. Jake Etheridge was at home in the United States during the performance of The Common Linnets in Copenhagen. But Jake soon found himself in Europe.

When Waylon, Ilse’s singing partner in Copenhagen and guest Common Linnet, decided to focus on his solo career after the Eurovision Song Contest, Jake Etheridge, who grew up in Lexington (South Carolina), suddenly found himself in the centre of the group’s attention, replacing Waylon when performing all over Europe to promote The Common Linnets’ successful Eurovision-song, Calm After The Storm. This has not gone unnoticed in Jake’s home, the United States. The website of The State – South Carolina’s Homepage took notice of Jake Etheridge’s Eurovision ánd European success, and interviewed the young artist.

Jake describes the surreal feeling of coming to The Netherlands to write and record some songs, and then suddenly becoming recognized as member of a widely popular band, as he explaines on The State-website: “Everything was kind of blowing up, and they said ‘Hey, we could use you to sing with us,’” Etheridge recalled recently by phone from Nashville. “It was pretty wild. It was already happening before I knew what was going on. It was very surreal.” (…) “I come over just to write some songs,” Etheridge said, “and, within a week, I’m on the front page of a newspaper in Holland.”

The article on The State-site also refers to the Eurovision Song Contest, and how Jake Erheridge was received by the public as substitute for Waylon: Etheridge felt good about the 13 songs written for The Common Linnets’ album, but he couldn’t fathom what was to come. Eurovision is a song competition spiced with a rowdy mix of nationalism and played out on live television throughout the continent. There’s nothing like it in the U.S. (…) “The European fans are pretty dedicated,” Etheridge said. “Those people fall in love with the music, and they fall in love with the band and the people in the band. They’ve been really sweet and appreciative of the music.” (…) After a show in Belgium, a couple of guys came up to Etheridge to talk, and one of them had tears in his eyes. “He just wanted to shake our hands,” Etheridge said. “I’m certainly not getting that in Nashville.”

You can read the entire article here:

http://www.thestate.com/2014/09/07/3659485_un-common-summer-songwriter-from.html?sp=%2F99%2F117%2F&rh=1

Stay tuned to ESCToday.com for the latest news on The Netherlands and the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest.