Jayson Nugent | |
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| Background information | |
| Also known as | Agent Jay |
| Born | November 20, 1972 |
| Genres | Reggae, Ska, Rocksteady |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
| Instrument | Guitar |
Jayson Nugent (born 1972; also known as Agent Jay, and Crazy Baldhead) is a guitarist and DJ from New York who plays in the style of several Jamaican music genres.
Nugent's experiments with ska, reggae, rocksteady, dub music, and skinhead reggae came to be noticed through his work with Version City and Stubborn Records. Since 1997, Nugent has been a staple in the New York City ska community, playing backup for King Django, trading dub masters with Victor Rice, and playing in The Slackers. Other bands that featured Nugent's guitar work in the 1990s include: Agent 99, Stubborn All-Stars, Da Whole Thing, and Version City Rockers. In 2007, Nugent released the Crazy Baldhead Has a Posse [1] CD, which he produced over a 10-year period, with guest musicians featured in every song.
Crazy Baldhead released The Sound of '69 [2] in the fall of 2008. This album features re-interpretations of pop hits from 1969 in the style of Jamaican music of the time - that is, the raw, funk-influenced early reggae championed by producers such as Lee "Scratch" Perry and Harry J. In December 2013 Nugent released Boots Embraces after a successful crowd-funding campaign at BigTunes. The record features fellow members of the Slackers Dave Hillyard and Vic Ruggiero, and was mixed by Victor Axelrod. Most of the songs are written by Nugent, except "Revolution.Stop," which is inspired by The Clash's "Revolution Rock." The album cover states that "Aria" is written by J.S. Bach, but the song did not make the final cut. It is however available online.