Jonathan Tyler of Jonathan Tyler & the Northern Lights loves to play all kinds of music.
His influences range from rock to blues to country to jazz.
He wanted to be a musician because he loves the way he feels when he performs.
"I kind of lose myself when I'm playing," Tyler said during a phone call from the road between Dallas and Austin, Texas, on the way to the South by Southwest Music and Media Conference.
"I guess I was just seeking that feeling. It's (all about) getting that natural high by playing music."
Tyler's choice of music is classic rock. His main influences range from Led Zeppelin to the Beatles to Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC and Stevie Ray Vaughan. And he just wants to make people feel what he feels when he hears those artists.
"I think there's a lot to learn from tradition," he said. "There's a reason why certain things have worked for so long. There have been traditions to music. At the human being's core, people want to have a good time. And everybody understands love and loss and all those emotions. Music and art in general are always speaking to those emotions.
"We're trying to make people feel what we feel."
His new CD, "Pardon Me", does just that.
The CD, produced by Jay Joyce (who has worked with Cage the Elephant, John Hiatt and Patty Griffin), was recorded in Joyce's studio in Nashville, Tenn.
"Jay is really good at song writing," said Tyler. "He took our songs and dissected them and changed them. He added another perspective, which helped because we have been playing some of these songs for a couple of years."
The sessions for "Pardon Me" were the first time that Tyler and his band were able to focus a lot of effort on each song.
"(In the past,) we usually hurried because we didn't have the budget," he said. "So when we got to spend a couple days on each song, it felt liberating."
Considered one of the rising stars in the music scene, Tyler has already experienced a few perks in his chosen career.
He's played with his childhood hero bands AC/DC and Lynyrd Skynyrd, and he has played Austin City Limits.
"I listened to AC/DC when I was still in middle school," he said. "It was surreal sharing the stage with them."
Tyler said he is looking forward to playing in Utah.
"We're hitting parts of the country we've never played before," he said. "Utah is one of them. Later, we'll get to go to other countries that we haven't played before. It looks like we're going to Europe in a few months."
e-mail: scott@desnews.com
If you go...
What: Jonathan Tyler & the Northern Lights, Jared Mees & the Grown Children
Where: The State Room, 638 S. State
When: March 26, 9 p.m.
How much: $10
Phone: 800-501-2885