Jason Michael Carroll at The Franke Center For The Arts
Marshall, MI (Dec. 12, 2025) – Jason Michael Carroll delivers a bag of top hits and Christmas tunes for his Country Christmas show at The Franke Center For The Arts, on Friday evening.
The Downstage Club, located inside The Franke Center For The Arts in Marshall, MI, plays host for the evening’s show. The show is centered around Carroll performing a solo acoustic set of original hits and Christmas tunes while entertaining the crowd of near 200 music fans with his own personal stories that lead up to his many songwriting ventures.
As a former Marine officer himself, Carroll is partnered with the US Marine Corps and their Toys For Tots donations drive. Officer Diaz of the USMC is on site and takes the stage prior to the show, to thank everyone for their respects and generous gifts of love. Jason thanks the US Marines for everything they do and mentions that his father was also a Marine. “Once a Marine…ALWAYS a Marine.”
The room is decorated with lit up Christmas trees in the corners of the Club to help with the Christmas spirit. Jason and his sense of comical wit, decorates his stage with a Leg Lamp (from A Christmas Story) and a Bluey figure (Australian Blue Heeler animation character). After taking the stage, Carroll tells of his wife asking about whether he was going to bring a Christmas tree with him for the show. He orders the leg lamp instead, which causes his wife and crowd to get a chuckle out of. Bluey is on stage as Jason claims, “My two-year-old granddaughter has taught me the value of Bluey. The Bluey show makes adults cry and seem like meanies to their grandkids. The most important song I am going to sing to you tonight is…the theme song from Bluey”
Jason starts his show giving a brief description of his father and his hard-nose ethic. He was a Marine that became a fundamental independent Baptist preacher when Jason was seven years old. He gave up, drinking, cussing, and smoking but still had a temper that he could not fight. This led to much of Jason’s early songwriting that still stands today. Jason has been writing songs since he was eight years old, by writing down his feelings in an old notebook. Not realizing at the time what he was doing, only later did it become evident they were becoming songs.
With his guitar strapped over his shoulder, he belts out a new tune “I Ain’t Giving Up” in his deeper baritone singing voice. A song about forgiveness and being strong enough to fight for it.
Carroll next introduces his wife, Wendy, to the crowd. Wendy is joining him on this leg of shows through Ohio, Michigan and Indiana. She is originally from Royal Oak, Michigan and familiar with the area. One of Jason’s favorite songs is “God Bless The USA” by Lee Greenwood. He laughs at the coincidence of the line, “from Detroit, down to Houston” as she is from Detroit and Jason is from Houston, Texas. Jason later grew up in North Carolina, where he and Wendy are now raising their family.
He tells a story of Wendy calling him a name that hurt his feelings. She called him an Alcoholic. With that, he pours three fingered of Crown Royal whiskey and tells her that she doesn’t know what she is talking about. Wendy and his kids pack up and move out, leaving him all alone in the house, as they tell him “we love you too much to watch you kill yourself.” After spending a month in the house alone with all the lightbulbs changed to red, to represent HELL, he visits a friend in Houston and writes a song. The song is “Do What I Do Best,” and is written to piss her off. After coming home to play it to her and a few friends, he gets upset and disappointed in himself due to “writing a pretty good song and they all liking the song and it was supposed to piss her off.” The song is now being added to a new record coming out in February.
“There Goes God Again” is just a series of reminders that help and support is always out there when you least expect it. Regardless of your troubles, there are people that want to help you.
Growing up on an eighty-acre farm in North Carolina, Jason would hear all the farmers and other old-timers talk about their busy days and schedules. When they would be asked about sleep, they all would respond the same, “I Can Sleep When I’m Dead.”
As the show progresses along, he tells of a time he defended his mother and got into a fight with his father. Their relationship is never the same afterwards. His wife talks Jason into letting his father meet and get to know his grandkids. He was the best granddad to the kids. With a tear in his eye, Jason remarks “My dad was not a bad man…I miss him…this year was nine years…he just had demons he couldn’t beat.” That leads up to his 2007 debut single, “Alyssa Lies.”
Jason is proud to announce, “as of August 2025, I have had no drugs or alcohol for three years.” With some support from one of his best friends, Ira Dean (formerly of Trick Pony), he was able to get back on stage again and perform without needing a drink to get through it. Ira told me, “Jason, you have more stories to tell. Go out there and tell them.”
He finishes the first half of his nightly performance with another new song, “Made In The USA.” Afterwards, he drops his head and leans forward as to jokingly imitate a Chucky Cheese figure ending his allotted performance, til it is time to begin again. During the intermission, Jason takes time to shake hands and meet some of those in the crowd.
Jason began his show with his long, sandy blonde hair tied back in a ponytail under his cowboy hat. He quickly removed his had and finished out his first half without it. As the second half gets underway, Jason return to the stage with his cowboy hat on and hair freely untied in the back and flowing over each shoulder.
During the intermission, Carroll gets a request for his first Christmas song of the evening. Standing at the microphone without his guitar, he sings “Silver Bells” with a bit of “Ray Of Hope” in acupella.
As another request from earlier, Jason strums his guitar and hums out the words trying to remember the song. He giggles when he is pretty sure to knowing how “Let It Rains” goes.
Thanking the crowd for making “It’s Where I’m From,” one of his biggest singles, he adds the chorus of “Amazing Grace” to the end. The song was written after not being able to record a song that kept getting put on “hold” by another artist to keep Jason from recording it.
Having a love of country music, his upbringing made it difficult to express and learn from it. Jason grew up in a house where music was limited and drums were forbidden and considered to be a sign of the devil. When he became 16, he would offer to do all the errands that would require taking the car, so that he could listen to the radio in the car and having it blaring out the speakers. He sings a snippet of one of those songs that hits home, “I Don’t Call Him Daddy” from Doug Supernaw.
Music reaches people differently and songs have different meanings for each of us. Singing a snippet of Blackhawk’s “Postmark Birmingham” takes him back to a time when Jason’s aunt ran away from home. The last signs they had of her were in Birmingham, Alabama. Jason picked up the phone one time from his grandmother’s house, it was his aunt calling to talk to her mother. The first time after being gone for sixteen years. The song “Hurry Home” was pitched to Jason at the same time at the record label.
The highlight of the evening comes as Jason tells the story of he and Wendy connecting as a couple. He tells of Wendy’s parents sending her off to South Carolina for school to guard her away from Jason. Not having resources like now with the internet, he lost track of her. His band was beginning to gain momentum and become a big local band in the area. He tells of the band getting ready to play their first gig of a new set of shows, when he sees her walk in at the back of the bar. Jason tells his drummer to hold off and don’t start yet as he exits off the stage. As Jason is telling this story to the crowd in Marshall this evening, he tells them, “I will just show you” as he jumps off the stage and re-enacts the scene by walking back to the back of the room where Wendy is sitting. He grabs her hand and says, “I am sorry that things went the way they did…I still think about you…I hope your life is great….I still love you.” He kisses her on the cheek and returns to the stage. That evening, he was not the one that made the setlist of songs, but by coincidence, the show began with Kenny Chesney’s “Don’t Happen Twice.” After the show, Wendy had caught up with Jason to tell him, she had come to the show to tell him that she had forgiven him and loved him also. They began dating again and had a child a few years later. He later went on to write, “Living Our Love Song” to commemorate that time in their lives.
To get into the festive, Christmas spirit, Jason with help from the crowd, sings “Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer” before adding “Christmas Time Down On The Farm.”
Jason ends his evening with a song that is personal to him and should become an anthem to all. With all the petty in the world today, grow up…stand up…and become the next hero. The song is “What Ever Happened To Heroes,” and is his current single out, being just released in November.
Jason exits the stage with an applauding standing ovation from the crowd and immediately continues with the handshakes and photos with the crowd as he did at intermission.
Everyone in the room this evening, has more admiration and respect for Jason Michael Carroll after this performance. The show is very personal and emotional with stories leading up to the songs, leaving many to now look at songs differently than they originally imagined. Jason has proven his talents as an artist and songwriter to make each song reflect differently to each in order to appeal and connect to each listener.
Jason Michael Carroll has a new record coming out in February, a new band that has been going over a new show and show dates to kick off in early 2026. Many new songs that have spanned Jason’s career that haven’t been ready to be heard until now, are on this record.
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Jason Michael Carroll setlist:
- I Ain’t Giving Up 2. Blue Theme Song 3. Do What I Do Know Best 4. There Goes God Again 5. I Can Sleep When I’m Dead 6. Alyssa Lies 7. Made In The USA 8. Silver Bells 9. Ray Of Hope 10. For Sure 11. Let It Rain 12. Snippet of Song On Hold 13. It’s Where I’m From / Amazing Grace 14. You Are My Favorite / No Doubt About It (Neal McCoy cover) 15. I Don’t Call Him Daddy snippet (Doug Supernaw cover) 16. Postmark Birmingham snippet (Blackhawk cover) 17. Hurry Home 18. Don’t Happen Twice snippet (Kenny Chesney cover) 19. Living Our Love Song 20. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer 21. Christmas Time Down On The Farm 22. Whatever Happened To Heroes
Words by: Leslie Reasoner
Photos by: John Reasoner
Jason Michael Carroll
The Franke Center Of The Arts