Jason Blaine: A country star with a hometown heart

Posted on Tuesday, June 3rd, 2025

Country music icon and Pembroke native Jason Blaine has deep community relationships. Though he lives in Nashville, Tenn., and travels extensively for his successful music career, his heart, his family and some of his best memories are deeply connected to his hometown and to his time at Algonquin College.

“Pembroke for me will always be home,” said Blaine. “They raised me. The folks that cheered me on my whole career, who continue to this day, it’s just an area that calls to you.”

Blaine has built a successful career in country music, garnering widespread recognition. He has earned 13 nominations from the Canadian Country Music Association, including a win for 2012 Single of the Year. He has also received multiple awards from the Country Music Association of Ontario and the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada.

His annual Jason Blaine Celebrity Charity Golf Classic contributed $100,000 to the development of Pembroke’s Waterfront Campus building and he has donated an additional $100,000 to create an endowment to establish a financial aid bursary for students in need.

In the past 10 years he’s raised over a million dollars for local organizations and charities.

Blaine graduated from the Algonquin College Pembroke Campus with a business degree in 2000. “It was the first time there was some serious study,” he joked. “I think the two years that I spent at Algonquin taught me how to learn. I took everything I was learning and ran it through the filter of one day I’m going to need to know all this stuff and apply it to my own career, and I did.”

While he fondly remembers his time as a student, he does lament graduating when he did. “My only regret is that I didn’t get to attend the brand-new state of the art beautiful campus on the waterfront. That was after my time,” he said. “This new campus in Pembroke has served to attract students to stay in Pembroke, who graduate high school and stay. It’s a lot more appealing to want to stay and go to school at a beautiful campus.”

He sees the connection between the College and the town as integral. “You can train this next generation right there in the town, and they’re more likely to stay and plant some roots down which is what you need.” For a town formerly dependent on sawmills and manufacturing to offer careers in nursing and forestry, it is making a difference in people’s futures.

When asked what advice he has for graduates, Blaine provides the perfect pitch.

“You must have a vision for your life; you must have a vision and really see it. Ask the questions and write them down. What do [I] know?

Where do I want to be? Where do I want to end up? Is it for me?”

“A friend of mine has a great saying, the harder you work, the luckier you get.”

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