Carson drummer hopes for big-stage debut in Portland

The Jennifer Echo, a Portland, Ore.-based band, played its first-ever live show Thursday night. The band had been together for six months, and was looking forward to its first engagement with a live audience. It will serve as a good warm-up because, if members have their way, their second concert will be as Bon Jovi's opening act.

The idea is especially meaningful for drummer Jim Wadsworth, who earlier this year considered giving up music all together. Although the Carson City native had spent most of his adult life entranced by the pursuit of music, the 29-year-old had become disheartened and wasn't sure music should be his life.

What a difference six months makes.

Wadsworth graduated from Carson High in 1994, and still has family in the area.

At 16, he began taking bass lessons, which lasted less than a month before his instructor left to go on tour. Not wanting to give it up, he began teaching himself.

At 18, he bought a drum set and began mimicking the beats off of his favorite albums. He was in a band and wanted to spend his life making music. In 1999, he moved to Portland in search of a more vibrant music scene.

"He has always thought he'd make it big doing music. It has always been something he loved," said Karla Masterson, Wadsworth's mother.

While he pursued his dreams, he took a job repairing copiers to support himself. As time went on, he began to question whether he should continue to try to make it as a musician. Then an advertisement made the decision for him.

"I decided to get back into playing drums the day before I saw the ad for the band. So it was really good timing," Wadsworth said.

The band's three members had been together for one year, but needed a drummer. Wadsworth joined lead vocalist Joel Vega, bass guitar and vocalist Peter Nehring and guitarist Mike Filtz in July, and they began work on an album with a style Wadsworth calls "power pop."

The band's name resulted from a mistaken song lyric from a '60s group called The Hollies.

"They had a song with the lyric about a girl named Jennifer Eckles, and the bass player thought it was echo," Wadsworth said. "He found out after they had decided to name the band after the lyric."

The band had just finished songs for its album - "Be Dangerous on Rock Guitar," set to be released this year by Itchy Korean Recordings - when they decided to enter a contest sponsored by a Portland radio station. The contest called for local bands to submit their work for a chance to open for Bon Jovi.

The Jennifer Echo was among hundreds of entries received.

When the finalists were announced, the band that hadn't yet played a live show, was in the top 10.

"The fact that a radio station thought a band that had been together for six months was good enough to play in front of 15,000 people said a lot to us," Wadsworth said.

Now it's up to the public to decide who opens for the world-famous rock group when it performs in Portland March 5. Tunes may be heard and votes cast at www.mix1075portland.com/cooldeals/bonjovi_vote.shtml until 4 p.m. today.

But, no matter what the result, Wadsworth said entering the contest has already given him something valuable.

"I had gotten to the point where I was disheartened, but now I have renewed faith," he said.

-- Contact reporter Jarid Shipley at jshipley@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1217.