Jay Bragg plays happy music for people looking to get happy.
Whether it’s writing songs, making records, performing live or volunteering for hospice patients - something he still does every week - Jay makes music to serve others, contributing a healthy dose of joy and good vibes into a culture that is increasingly inundated with the opposite.
Born Jason Basiner outside of Boston, Massachusetts from a family of musicians dating back to the Vaudeville era, Jay’s first performance on a stage was at five years old and has since recorded and released hundreds of songs, performed over 3600 shows across America including tours with Alan Jackson and Chris Stapleton, founded a music charity and has become an international Christmas connoisseur with his annual ‘A Songwriter’s Christmas’ tour and original holiday compositions.
Growing up, Jay absorbed all forms of American Roots music from his family - blues, jazz, gospel, folk, country and rock n roll, and his style often reflect them all. As an entertainer, Jay’s style has reflections of vintage Vaudeville showmanship - the concert circuit where his grandparents got their start in live performance in the 1930s.
In October 2024, Jay launched his latest obsession - a fictional North Pole alter-ego act called King Kazoo & The Reindeer Band - a whimsical gumbo of jazz, blues, swing, Christmas and Tin Pan Alley music without being a purist of any of them.
The idea to start a project centered around the kazoo came right out of his work volunteering for hospice patients. Jay noticed that every time he played the kazoo, the folks in hospice care would smile. Seeing the affect the instrument had on them, he began developing a short story and composing music that would eventually become King Kazoo & The Reindeer Band. The act’s debut EP is now available wherever music is heard and, like most of Jay Bragg’s music, it is bound to brighten up your day.