Rob Mayes in ‘Just Jake.’ Photo Courtesy of UPtv
Actor and musician Rob Mayes chatted about his new movie “Just Jake” on UPtv, and his new music.
‘Just Jake’ film
The synopsis is: An emerging country star returns to his hometown to overcome his serious writers’ block, and reunites with his high school sweetheart. Together they rediscover love and learn that the best music is the music you make together.
“‘Just Jake’ was a blast to film,” Mayes exclaimed. “I love making country music movies. We got to write some really great songs for the movie, and working with Brittany and Brandon on set was a blast.”
Playing Jake in ‘Just Jake’
Mayes was drawn to playing Jake for several reasons. “I love the fact that my character Jake is so similar to myself,” he said. “We both write and play country music. We both come from a reasonably small town, and we both have struggled with writers block. I got to tap in to some vulnerability, which is always rewarding.”
Two new songs for the movie
“I wrote two songs for the movie,” he revealed. “One is called ‘New Favorite Song on the Radio’ and the other is ‘Without You’. The former is a big old summer smash and without you is a beautiful power ballad duet.”
“I wrote both of the songs with Will Weatherly, Heath Warren, and Eric Van Houten. The single drops on May 19. ‘Without You’ will be available for pre-order on digital service providers by clicking here.”
Working with Brittany Bristow
Mayes opened up about working with Brittany Bristow as his leading lady in “Just Jake.” “Brittany is incredible. She’s vivacious and vibrant and fun and silly and smart and quirky. So it’s no wonder that we had so much fun making this movie together, Not to mention she has a great voice,” he said.
‘Sweet On You’
He recalled doing the movie “Sweet On You,” which was directed by Marla Sokoloff. “It was awesome,” he said. “It reunited me with Jeff Schenk and Barry Barnholtz, my producers, who I’ve been blessed to now have made a handful of movies with, and it reunited me with Marla Sokoloff, this time in a different capacity, since Marla was at the helm.”
“Marla is so witty and funny and quick and sarcastic in the absolute best way and it’s always such a joy to get to work with Marla and for her to elevate my comedy. Since she’s one of the funniest people out there.”
“This was my first (and most definitely hopefully not the last) time working with Haylie Duff. She’s beyond talented and beyond down to earth and we really had a spectacular time Getting to tell this story – that’s based on her family’s life,” he exclaimed.
New projects in the works: acting and music
“I have another country music movie in which a star opposite Beau Bridges, and with Lee Brice and with music by Dallas Davidson and myself called ‘The Neon Highway,’ which will be coming out later this year,” he said.
“I just finished shooting comedy ‘Lost & Found in Cleveland’ with Martin Sheen, Dennis Haysbert, June Squibb, and Jon Lovitz,” he added.
Mayes continued, “One of my favorite songs ever in country music is Cody Johnson’s ‘Til You Can’t,’ which was written by Matt Rogers and Ben Stennis. They won the Grammy this year for best country song. They are nominated for an ACM coming up this week. Ben and I have a new song, ‘I Miss That Truck,’ which we wrote together that comes out June 30.”
“I cannot wait for y’all to hear these two songs that I am so proud of,” he exclaimed. “I want to give a special shout out to my co-writers Will Weatherly and Heath Warren both on their respective recent No. 1s at country radio.”
“I am super grateful to Lauren Mascitti for duetting with me on ‘Without You.’ You might remember her from ‘American Idol’ and she is a Grand Ole Opry regular and favorite, and not to mention, in my estimation, she has hands-down, one of the best voices in country music,” Mayes concluded.
To learn more about actor and musician Rob Mayes, follow him on Instagram.