Jason Newsted & The Chophouse Band at The Iron Horse on Wednesday, July 1 2026
Jason Newsted fully commits to the song and task at hand. His primal songwriting instincts are just as intense and fearless as his famous live performances. The six-:me GRAMMY® Award-winning, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame® Inductee fronts The Chophouse Band as vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and producer. He writes his own entry in the American Songbook, leaving his mark with the same blood, sweat, and cheers that genera:ons of fans have not only come to expect, but forever appreciate from him.
Weaving together swaths of rock, country and folk with a heavy edge, his new music cuts a path into the South, circles around the Bay Area, and returns back to the Heartland where Jason grew up. “The Chophouse is the continuation of my ambassadorship of American music,” he states. “The Chophouse Band plays everything from bluegrass to fucking slabs of metal. We’re covering a lot of ground: There could be country flavor to a song, but it’ll s:ll have sharp teeth. It’s all Americana. I look forward to playing some new tunes for everybody and anyone that would like to join in the fun!”
Jason was raised on a small farm in Michigan. Thanks to two older brothers (eight and five years his senior), he was exposed to great music at an early age. At five years old, he heard Jimi Hendrix for the first :me. By ten, funk and soul from Detroit and Chicago had ensnared him. He went on to embrace Kiss, Rush, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, and more. “I experienced American popular music on the radio as it was being invented,” he muses. “I paid close a?en@on. When you put all of this gathered and processed data into my blender and pour it out, this is what you get.”
After four years leading Phoenix thrash juggernaut Flotsam and Jetsam, he got the call to join Metallica in October 1986. You can trace the origins of the Chophouse back to this era when he bought a home in Walnut Creek, CA. The open space above the garage transformed into an all-night jam spot frequented by a revolving door of elite Bay Area players, including members of Faith No More, Testament, Exodus, and many others. Returning from the road in 1992, he refashioned this de facto clubhouse into a state-of-the-art studio with a lounge, instrument storage, and closed-circuit TV. “Jim Mar:n of Faith No More and his brother Lou christened the new studio ‘Big Rigor Chophouse’,” he says, smiling. “It’s literally the house where you go to keep your chops up.” The Chophouse became the entity that represents and encompasses his musical endeavors.
As his career journey consequently twisted and turned over the next three decades, the Chophouse grew and evolved. Chophouse Records served as home to the music he released with Papa Wheelie, Echobrain, Voivod, and his eponymous Newsted Heavy Metal Music project. Following a whirlwind two years with the lacer, he sowed the seeds for live appearances and official recordings from The Chophouse Band; He continued to collect songs, wrote lyrics and poems, recorded demos, and jammed tirelessly with friends and collaborators, purely out of passion. Without any serious agenda, TCB have made appearances at benefit gigs for 15 years, playing for causes as diverse as veteran’s relief, animal rescue and rehabilitation, and youth music & arts education programs. Along the way, he dug into the American musical lexicon with guitar in-hand, following Johnny Cash and John Prine down the line into origins of “Old chain Gang and mining songs.”
“I learned my way around my old six-string acoustic,” he notes. “I put in the years and the :me in the Chophouse. I know I can play my cowboy chords, and I know this right hand is wicked. It’s been developed for a lot of years, I realized this is where I can enthusiastically place my energy now. I don’t have to prove anything to anybody, I just want to enjoy myself and feel as alive as possible”
By 2022, Newsted had begun to split his :me between Central New York and Florida’s Treasure Coast, where he established TCB Headquarters. Singing and playing guitar, Jason assembled The Chophouse Band for 2026 with: Jesse Farnsworth [guitar, vocal], Jimbo Hart [bass, vocal], Humberto Perez [guitar], and Robert John-Tucker [drums, vocal].
Among many highlights, “Lonely Man” offers an epic and entrancing tribute to his late father. Stretching past the seven-minute mark, softly strummed chords ring out, violin wails, and a hypnotic waltzing beat anchors the tempo. You can practically hear him hold back the tears as he confesses, “Know that I tried...The last @me I saw you, I cried. Lonely man.” A beau:fully composed tribute by an emotionally charged artist, with tearful and haunting harmonies. A final, respectful send-off from son to father. “Our Dad died on November 9, 2021,” he recalls. “It was within COVID, so we had to communicate through glass. He was a strong, proud individual. He didn’t drink, smoke, or curse. He was a solid citizen, a go-getter. He wasn’t afraid to sweat. He set an incredible example. No macer what we did, he was supportive of us—especially when it came to what we achieved with the music. He volunteered at his church, he was good with everybody, a friendly, people person, but he became an isolated guy. We had great admiration for each other. I wrote ‘Lonely Man’ ten days after he passed, processing grief through song. The composition is mesmerizing, sorrowful, enlightening, honest, and somewhat hopeful.”
“Blackbird” takes flight on a swinging bluegrass groove, accented by old school fiddle and countryfied harmony vocal. He leans into the hypnotic hook, going on to sing, “Blackbird walking on the water, like Jesus himself, just a little smaller. I try to see every sunset that I can from our dock, where the Loxahatchee River meets the Atlantic. One day, I was sitting there with my guitar and watching the black Cormorants floating and fishing. You see them for a moment, then they dive and disappear for a while. Suddenly, they’ll pop back up with a fish in their beak, run along the water, and fly away. I write about our surroundings and life experiences. To me, ‘Blackbird’ appropriately represents the folky element of The Chophouse Band.”
Elsewhere, Jason and Co. cover “Hillbilly Grave” originally composed by Guy Clark’s accompanying guitarist, Verlon Thompson, and late violinist Sue Cunningham. TCB pay a heavy-handed homage to the original with honor and reverence. “Our mantra is, ‘We respectfully play hybrid versions of songs from our greatest heroes’,” he goes on. “Heroes can be older or younger. Verlon first sat in at a Chophouse gig more than ten years ago. It was our ini:al contact with an artist of legitimate Americana pedigree.” Well-traveled, living legends from different genera:ons and genres, making authentic American music together, speaking the universal language.
The contemplative “Any Good Water” stitches together moments of regret, nostalgia, and hope into a poignant patchwork. Emo:on pours between the cracks of acoustic guitar and violin, and he surveys where he started, “Took the long way ‘round, instead of falling down.” He goes on to assure, “Ain’t got to ask me.., one look, my face will tell, there’s plenty o’ good water leT in this well.”
“As :me rolls on, We get put in check by different challenges,” he states. “Our hearts and minds may remain the same, but our bones may say, ‘Now you can only do this’. As bassist/vocalist for Metallica in their prime, I was the engine of a giant locomotive roaring uphill at full steam for a decade and a half. It can get the best of you; I equate touring years with dog years. I’m thinking to myself, ‘Do I have anything leT?’ I’ve weathered tours, tests, trials, and surgeries, but I’m s:ll here, everybody. I’ve got a lot more energy, love and music to share.., simply for the sake of sharing.”
Jason Newsted has dedicated himself to art and music. In Flotsam and Jetsam, he composed the lion’s share of the songs on bass, and penned the lyrics for the classic Doomsday for the Deceiver LP. Throughout fiWeen years in the world’s most successful heavy metal band, he took part in captivating millions of fans in arenas and stadiums worldwide. He held down the bass on five Metallica studio albums, including the history-making 2X-Diamond The Black Album (the best-selling LP in the history of Soundscan). As a member of the metal megastar oumit, he received six GRAMMY® Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame® in April, 2009. Moreover, Jason’s expansive catalog has featured recordings with Echobrain, Voivod, and the critically acclaimed Newsted Heavy Metal Music project. His list of collaborations includes: Tina Turner, Tony Iommi, Ian Gillan, UNKLE, Sepultura and Gov’t Mule, in addition to touring in Ozzy Osbourne’s band. Beyond decades of music, he stands out as an accomplished visual artist whose artwork is included in international collections and galleries.
In the summer of 2026, he takes The Chophouse Band on their first-ever tour, supporting Blackberry Smoke in North America.
“I’m someone who’s been a few places,” he leaves off. “I’ve had some very close calls. I need to feel as alive is possible. That’s why I’m doing everything I do right now. Every day matters. Everything else matters. Having music coursing through my veins, this is how I can feel the most alive.”
