Jay Allen has a career as a singer-songwriter with his own country/rock band, but he had a realization on the road to fame and fortune that something was missing.
“Basically what happened with me was that I was doing what everyone else was doing, but it seemed pretty selfish coming to Nashville to pursue a career in music. It just felt like every night I laid my head down, I felt like I’m missing something,” said Allen. “Something felt pretty empty to me because it was all about me.”
Allen will perform at the Allen Theatre on Friday, Aug. 23, at 7 p.m. as part of a fundraiser benefit for Cornwall Manor. His is the second of two performances to honor the Manor during its 75th anniversary.
It was around this time that a major life event struck Allen and his family. Allen was an only child whose mother meant the world to him and him to her.
“My mom got sick. My mom was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s when she was 51 years old,” related Allen. “Unfortunately, in our circumstance, it took her life very quickly. It lasted about two years and nine months before she passed away at age 54 in 2019.”
As a way to cope with the devastating news of her illness, Allen did what any creative individual might do: He channeled his emotions into his music.
“While she was still alive, I did, really, the only thing that I knew how to do was, you know, to cope with it was to write a song about it,” said Allen. “So I wrote a song (in 2018) on Music Row at Sony with a buddy of mine, and it’s called “Blank Stares.’
Up to that point, Allen said he had been touring and had some success via the Sirius radio program called “The Highway.”
“I was already touring, and I was opening up for all these big acts, and at the end of my show, I would share our story and share this song, “Blank Stares,” recalled Allen. “It started to feel like you can teach people till you’re blue in the face by speaking, but what better way to teach people than to show them?”
Allen made a life-altering decision that would blow up social media. He brought his mother onstage at the end of a show to honor her and share her story from a visual perspective before singing that song.
“A guy took a video, he put it on his Facebook page, and it erupted on the internet,” said Allen, who noted that the event predated video-oriented channels like TikTok. “It organically went viral. It’s accumulated to several different videos all over the internet now and has over a billion views.”
Becoming an internet sensation via that video opened the door of opportunity for news programs and eventually a relationship with a national charity.
“Honestly, the coolest thing that happened was the National Alzheimer’s Association reached out and we’ve done several events with them,” said Allen. “We’ve done hundreds of events with them and circled around that and that cause. I’ve said yes to every opportunity that’s come my way or at least tried to.”
Five years after his mom passed away prematurely, Allen has helped raise over $160 million to fight Alzheimer’s and dementia and raise awareness for the needs of caregivers, the latter also being very important to him.
There’s been other benefits from sharing his family’s story as well.
“It’s turned me into an artist, it’s turned me into an entertainer. A lot of times when I come in, they ask me, ‘Can you bring a band? Can you put on a party outside of your heartfelt message and the purpose?’” said Allen. “So I put together a five-piece country/rock band and we put on a very high-energy, fun show. It’s basically Chris Daughtry meets Blake Shelton, and then we have the heartfelt message that we bring as well.”
Sharing his heart-wrenching story paved the way for an ongoing gig on NBC’s storyline-focused musical show “The Voice” in 2022. He appeared in the show during its 22nd season until he was eliminated in The Knockout round.
“They wanted to share my story, the power behind it,” said Allen. “They did it in such a beautiful way. It also led to a little independent record deal and eventually led to me meeting Stacy, whom you spoke to, my amazing sweetheart manager.”
Allen, who is a religious man, said he actually declined the show’s producers for several years, feeling he wasn’t being led by the Spirit to tell her story beyond the viral video.
“I felt like it organically, naturally happened for us, the way that it went down where someone in a crowd took a video,” said Allen. “I never created that situation. It just naturally happened. I always share my faith. I believe God just sometimes brings things into fruition and has a plan for us and puts us in certain positions. And that’s what had happened. So I felt like if I went on The Voice, it was like me trying to capitalize on this.”
That’s, however, about the same time that the emptiness set in and raised questions in Allen’s mind.
“I was at a place where I really didn’t have a team around me. I felt pretty lonely and lost. I felt like I was in it on my own,” said Allen. “So I thought, ‘Man, what better way to kind of put the refresh on all this?’ And honestly, what better way to put millions of eyes on what we’ve been doing already? So that’s why I finally said yes.”
Beyond the show’s producers meeting Allen’s “hopes, requirements, vision and then some,” there was an added benefit of millions of eyes hearing him tell his story.
“All the good that came after that, the stories that just come out of the woodwork, the people that come out of the woodwork that are just like, ‘Gosh, thank you for talking about something that’s so hard to talk about,’” said Allen. “Now I get to meet families and people on the road that say, ‘Thank you for being brave and creating a safe place for us to share our own stories.’”
Allen said he’s done many benefit shows thanks to fans and others who want to see him perform live while helping to support their charitable causes.
“I’m so grateful that I did it and all that, you know, to see, to look back now and see all the good that’s come from it. I would do it again if I was asked to, to be honest,” he added.
During a recent weekend, including one in his hometown of Cedar Falls, Iowa, Allen said he stood at the merch booth afterwards for four hours to meet every fan who wanted to speak with him.
That action is part of the satisfaction he feels by putting people first, by being the best philanthropist he can be.
“To my detriment, music has become more of the fun thing to do, the hobby side of it,” he said. “But my heart and my purpose and my passion is the philanthropy side of it. It’s the part where I get to utilize this gift that I’ve been given of a voice and the ability to write songs and now the ability to perform songs and entertain for people and share a message. That’s become the heartbeat. I get to experience true fulfillment because of it.”
Allen said he’s excited for his first-ever visit to Lebanon County as he honors Cornwall Manor employees and the important work they do on behalf of the residents.
“It was an easy yes for us, you know?” he said. “Anything to do with a place like that. I call people like that angels doing God’s work. If we can come bring our message and bring what really is a night of hope, we just did a whole entire Night of Hope tour. I’m gonna bring that same message and that same feel with the band to this event. We’re gonna do that because I think it’s really important to do.”
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