The list of recent winners of NBC’s America’s Got Talent may not be recognizable super stars, but they all became instant millionaires and a earned a major career boost.
Past winners of the series, now in its eighth season, have been a performing dog troupe (Olate Dogs), a ventriloquist singing impressionist (Terry Fator), and an opera singer (Neal Boyd).
But this year a Cortez local and his Marine Corps combat buddies hope their band, American Hitmen, will be the show’s first “postwar hardcore” rock band to win.
Bassist Daniel “Jay” Jarmon grew up in Cortez and is the son of Marti and Steve Jarmon of Cortez. Jay formed the group with Tim and Dan McCoy while stationed in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004.
“I picked up a guitar one night in the barracks, and started learning songs,” he recalled during a phone interview between shows on the band’s Midwest tour.
“The McCoy brothers asked me to join them playing music and I’ve never looked back, basically.”
Following successful auditions and performances in Chicago and Las Vegas, American Hitmen has moved on to the finals, to be aired live from New York’s Radio City Music Hall, tonight (Tuesday), on NBC from 7-9 p.m. Mountain Time
Viewers can call in their choice for the winner during the Wednesday night show, same time and station. First place is $1 million, and a headliner spot on the AGT national tour.
“Vote, vote, vote, and tell your friends too,” Jarmon said. “It’s quite a culture shock coming from Cortez and going to play on a national stage in New York on live TV.”
Jarmon, 33, a father and husband living in Salt Lake City, has dedicated his career to the band’s success. And it has been paying off.
During a second Iraq deployment in 2006, American Hitmen played with Charlie Daniels during a USO tour. In 2009, they became the first American rock band in 36 years to be invited by Vietnamese Ministry of Culture perform in Vietnam.
“It was our largest show, something like 6,000 people,” Jarmon says. “We’ve learned to check our nerves and just play hard. We really feed of the audience energy.”
American Hitmen plays their own songs while touring and has recorded original albums. But for America’s Got Talent, they chose a couple of classic rock covers “that people recognize and are tunes that appeal to the audience,” Jarmon said.
During their audition in Chicago, the combat vets, and their civilian drummer Phil Snyder, nailed a cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man.” They received praise from shock jock Howard Stern, an AGT judge.
“You blew it up tonight. Great rock music. Great band, great audition,” Stern said.
Jarmon’s parents are pleasantly surprised and have traveled to New York to watch their son’s band perform live tonight.
“It’s pretty exciting,” said Steve Jarmon. “I give them a lot of credit for their persistence. They are a good group of guys.”
The Jarmons said their son is the first musician in the family, and it all started with a fiddle.
“We moved here in 1983 and I had him playing the fiddle in the sixth grade,” said mom Martie Jarmon. “He really loved music at an early age. When he got out of the service, he worked very hard with his band. He stuck with it, and I’m really proud of him. I hope he goes to the top.”
Jay’s parents live vicariously through their prodigy, watching there son on TV and now traveling to the big city to catch his show.
“I actually never saw the talent show before he was on it,” laughed Mr. Jarmon. “They’ve got all kinds of acts: swallowing swords, dancers and such. Going to New York will be a first. I’ll have to check out the Statue of Liberty after the show.”
jmimiaga@cortezjournal.com