Roots-rock band Jason Scott & the High Heat will kick off national tour at The Brightside

Oklahoma has produced massive country stars by the likes of Garth Brooks and Toby Keith, but it’s also long nurtured a vibrant Americana and folk scene. Oklahoma City, much like Tulsa, carries an eclectic musical flair. Jason Scott & the High Heat is a direct product of that scene.

Fusing Americana, country and rock, the High Heat extends beyond its Oklahoma City roots. The band is too loud for folk, too textured for Red Dirt; it embodies grooves, grit and a distinct rebel spirit. Frontman Jason Scott’s Pentecostal and preacher-in-training background informs his songwriting about life and love, giving him a perspective shaped by both faith and discovery.

“I kind of grew up in a restrictive environment as a kid and wasn’t allowed to listen to a lot of secular music,” Scott said. “I’m always hearing something I’ve never heard before. And I think how fresh those kinds of influences are make their way into the writing process.”

Scott’s music carries hints of Heartland Rock, specifically Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen. He had a rebellious stretch as a teenager, defined by skateboards and smoking pot, but eventually found his way back to the church by his late teens, remaining involved until his 30s.

The dynamics of Jason Scott & the High Heat’s 2025 album, “American Grin,” reflects a restless mindset. There’s cleaner production mixed with occasional lo-fi vocals, and a balance of raw emotions and humor. (Though, as Ben Folds once told this writer, humor is an emotion, too.)

The band seamlessly weaves in a tongue-in-cheek country-rock tune like “Me & The Bottle (Hungover You)” between “Golden” and “Interstate Of Mind” — a Heartland anthem and a song about the solitude of the road, respectively. Yet because the High Heat is locked into its groove, with a solid genre-bending throughline holding it together, the sonic shifts feel natural.

The latest single, “Too Good, Too Bad,” a meditation on vices, draws directly from Scott’s youthful rebelliousness — his first drink of straight corn liquor, his first $20 scratch-off ticket, his first drag off a Winston Light snuck from his grandfather. Even the speed of his ol’ 650 motorcycle — “138 is all it would give me” — came from a genuine, thrill-seeking place.

“Cause sugar’s so sweet and honey’s so sticky,” he sings. “If it’s too good, it’s gotta be bad.”

Considering his Pentecostal upbringing — and the preacher’s path he nearly followed — Scott’s songs about forbidden fruit going down so smoothly makes the defiance all the more fascinating.

“I was primarily a worship pastor, but I started writing songs super young,” he said. “One thing about that music is it’s very groove- and rhythm-oriented. The expression, the feeling of playing live music is certainly effective in a church environment. That translates to what we do now. It’s the emotion of connecting with a crowd and drawing from my roots there.”

Of leaving the preacher track, Scott put it this way: he made it far enough in leadership to want to get out of it. So he put his energy into the music.

With two albums already under its belt and another on the way next year, Jason Scott & the High Heat is picking up steam.

“We’re all just through the roof,” he said. “It’s pedal to the metal.”

Or, 138 on an ol’ 650.

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