Wednesday Video Spotlight: JD McPherson performs “Fire Bug” on “Late Show with David Letterman”
Broken Arrow native JD McPherson brought his old-school rockabilly-and-blues-tinged sound to “The Late Show with David Letterman” Tuesday night when he performed the track “Fire Bug” from his critically acclaimed album, “Signs & Signifiers.”
Recently included in Rolling Stone’s “Band to Watch” list, McPherson grew up in rural southeastern Oklahoma, near the town of Talihina. Taking up the guitar at age 13, he then played in a number of local punk rock bands and began writing his own songs.
After being exposed to the music of Buddy Holly, McPherson developed a strong interest 
in 1950’s rock and roll. He studied visual arts in college, earning an master of fine arts from the University of Tulsa, and later worked as an art teacher.
After deciding to pursue music more seriously, McPherson sent a demo to Jimmy Sutton of Hi-Style Records, a label specializing in roots music. Sutton agreed to produce McPherson’s debut album,” Signs and Signifiers,” which was released in 2010. Rounder Records gave it a national re-release earlier this year, and it debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart and No. 161 on the Billboard 200.
As previously reported, McPherson recently released a terrifically fun original holiday tune called “Twinkle (Little Christmas Lights), which debuted exclusively on RollingStone.com. Click here to listen to the song, which will be available next Tuesday on iTunes.
The Oklahoma rockabilly revivalist will perform “Twinkle (Little Christmas Lights)” Dec. 13 on the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” which airs at 10:35 p.m. weekdays on NBC.
-BAM
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