He produced his first EP and he's ready to start working on his second. Now, J. Turtle tells us about the San Diego scene and band breakups. Read on!

Following in his stepfather's footsteps, J. (Jason) Turtle began his musical career strumming on an old Yamaha.

"I hadn't ever really thought of playing the guitar, but since I had been involved in music so much already with piano and choir, I thought, 'okay'," said the San Diego-based singer-songwriter when I asked him how he got his start. "I must have played at least 3 hours everyday from that point up until a couple years after. I would just sit in front of my stereo/CD player and imitate music that I liked."

Turtle, now 24, grew up in Cupertino, California, a small Silicon Valley community. His formal piano training began at age 5 and continued until high school when he began playing the guitar. While he was in the bay area attending junior college, he was told by a former musician that San Diego had a pretty good acoustic scene.

"It turned out that San Diego state had and still has one of the best music education programs in the country, so I thought I could gig and further my education all in the same place," says Turtle of his move. "People are slowly figuring out that there's a wealth of talent in the city...so people are beginning to build it back up again."

His first musical project came about in 2000 with the duo of "Jason and Jane", which started out as two friends singing a few Jason-tunes together.

"Jason and Jane was a great project because Jane brought to the table what I felt that I lacked...and I brought what she was less confident about. so together, apparently, we meshed really well," Turtle recalled.

The duo parted ways in February 2003, and Jason went into hiding for a few months of intense songwriting and producing Saba's EP, Letters to Doe. (www.sabamusic.com)

"Saba's album was actually an accident, really," Turtle said. "Saba wanted some sample drum tracks and guitar parts to give to a bass player so he could practice. I thought that I would help her out by making those...and then next thing I knew, I had two songs completely produced--just for the hell of it. I'd been in the studio enough times to hear some of the tricks of producing...and I had an idea of what it could sound like, so I went off of that."

From there, it was onto produce his own EP, Turns. The acoustic gem features Turtle's authentic strums and mellowly dramatic voice.

"I expected to have something to sell at shows that was different and more produced than a live performance," Turtle said of the album. "I wanted it to be clean sounding (to a non-engineers ear) but I didn't have any money. So I guess it definitely got the job done."

"I'm definitely much happier with my songwriting now," added Turtle. "I think I'm pickier and more aware of what I want to describe and just how I want to describe it. My thoughts weren't as articulated before...perhaps I just wanted to finish the song based on the sound. I've come to understand the complexities of lyrics and imagery...especially now that I share an apartment with an artist and a writer."

He has now upgraded his "so-called studio" and is working on another album. Although he said he's not looking for fame and fortune, he does want to live comfortably, and hopes his musical career, including touring, can provide that for him.

"I think the more that I play out, the more I realize how important it is to be exactly what I feel like being...if people want to jump on the bus that I'm driving, then they're more than welcome to, cause I'm not going to change for anyone else but myself."

For more information visit: www.jturtlemusic.com