For the past eight years, Nashville native Jason Coleman has been touring small cities around the U.S., and he said that he likes touring towns like Andalusia because people appreciate the type of music he plays.

Coleman, who is the grandson of Floyd Cramer, will travel to Andalusia, Thurs., April 4,  and perform with Meagan Taylor, who is the niece of Chet Atkins. Their show is “Nashville Legacy.”

“This will be my first time to Andalusia,” Coleman said. “To me, touring small towns like Andalusia has been fun. The last eight years I have performed more in small towns than bigger venues and personally I like it better that way. I actually get to meet people and see what life is like there. I think the type of music that I play and the music I bring back to life, like the songs that my grandfather played and all of the songs of that age, I think people really appreciate that in small town America.”

He said that he is most excited to travel to Andalusia so he can share his music.

 

“In the concert, we will play a lot of songs that people will probably recognize from the 50s and 60s,” Coleman said. “But we will also be sharing a lot of family memories. We have a lot of pictures, videos and stories that we talk about from our own time growing up with my grandmother and her uncle. It’s fun to get to see these songs spark up something in people. It brings back a lot of different memories for people, whether it was a song played at their prom back in the day or their wedding.”

Coleman was around music his entire life with his grandfather, performing on T.V. at the age of four and performing at the Grand Ole Opry at 17. He said that keeping his grandfather’s legacy going has been a natural progression.

“I have played piano for as long as I can remember,” Coleman said. “And I was very close with my grandfather. I was 12 when he passed away, but we were very close until then. We just played piano together a lot and we were together as a family a lot. When I was 12 years old, I didn’t realize how big of an impact his music made. I mean, I knew he was a famous piano player, but I had no idea just how big he was. Now, as I get older, I keep on finding out just how big of an impact he made on people with his music.”

He said that the best part of performing is the connection that he gets with the crowd.

“Seeing people respond to these songs is amazing,” Coleman said. “Because these are songs that I enjoy playing and singing. It’s good music, but it is especially good because it is something that people can latch on to. It seems like at every concert, somebody will come up to me and talk about a different song each time and tell a story about how much that song meant to them, or what significance it had in their life. It is really cool to have that experience and to see first hand what an impact my granddad had.”

Coleman said that the concert is a night to relax and slow down for an evening.

“I want people to be able to relax during the show,” Coleman said. “We just come in and share the music that we love. It’s a night where at the end it will feel like we are all spending time in a living room together like at a family reunion. We hope to just share some music and put some smiles on faces.”

Coleman makes his home in Hendersonville, Tennessee, with his wife, Natalie, and their new baby boy, Avery Cramer.

“Nashville Legacy” is set for 7 p.m. this Thurs., April 4, in the Dixon Center for the Performing Arts on the Andalusia campus of LBW Community College.

Individual performance tickets are available at Harold’s and at The Star-News, and are $15 in advance. Individual tickets are  $18 at the door and $12 for children.