Rockin’
with Jacob Resch
Musician is building a legacy in more ways than one
JACOB RESCH might not remember much
about the musical origins of MySpace (he was
10 during its heyday) or when videos played on
regular rotation on MTV (neither do the rest of
us), but the 25-year-old easily recalls when his
love for music began.
“I started taking guitar lessons when I was about
eight years old,” Resch says. “I had an older cousin
and he was in a band. You always just kind of look
up to your older cousins, so I just thought it was
the coolest thing that he was in a band.
“After a couple of years of that, I focused
on singing and took a couple of years of voice
lessons, then started writing original music
and recording. Now, I’m writing, recording and
touring regionally and locally. It’s been a slow
build-up ever since then.”
The hardest question for Resch to answer when
someone asks about his band’s music style is
selecting one genre.
He’s influenced by his parents’ taste in music –
John Mellencamp, Led Zeppelin, Tom Petty and
The Rolling Stones, but, he says, “I listen to really
anything. I listen to country, I listen to rock, I listen
to hip hop, I listen to the pop music on the radio.
I like to think I take some elements from it all.”
Resch adds: “There’s definitely some rock
influence there. The part of the country I’m from,
that’s where I get my little country twang. In terms
of songwriting elements, I like to take ideas from
guys like Bruno Mars, and by that I mean they have
really short, concise catchy hooks. You just need
a couple of words that draw people in.”
As an employee of his father’s Southern Indiana
development business and a self-admitted “history
geek,” Resch has been drawn to helping his family
change the face of New Albany one building at a
time. Working for his dad, renowned contractor
Steve Resch, affords the singer-songwriter a flexible
schedule to travel with his band.
“My parents and my family are definitely very
supportive,” he says. “I work for my dad and I do
music, and I really enjoy doing both. It’s one of
those things where I feel like I never have a break
because I get off work and I go home and I work
on music, but they’re very supportive. … The goal
is hopefully to one day, sooner (rather) than later,
make music my full-time job.”
But for now, he’s happy being a part of the
Resch family legacy.
Steve Resch’s company has been a Southern
Indiana mainstay for three decades, particularly
in the revitalization of downtown New Albany.
“In the last 10 years, he’s done probably
20 different build-outs down here,”
Jacob Resch says. “He and my mom
own quite a few properties, so next to
music, that’s my biggest passion: real
estate, specifically working a lot of historic
properties. My dad and my grandpa and
I are all big history nerds, so we love
these buildings from the 1800s.”
As the family continues
to construct a collective
l e ga c y t hat ’s
positively
impacting others, Resch is working on his own,
and he’s proud of it. “The stuff I’m writing now, it
all works, it’s all cohesive. It’s a sleek, streamlined
feel from what I’m already doing.”
You can learn more about Jacob Resch at
JacobReschMusic.com.
By Mandy Wolf Detwiler
Photos by Christian Watson
EXTOL : FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020
43