The guys from Midland often look like they stepped right out of an 80’s country music video, with the vintage clothing and throwback styles they wear, and it turns out lead guitarist Jess Carson was making a living off their look before getting into the band, when he owned a vintage clothing store. “I moved to Portland and I met my wife,” he explains.  “We both had crappy jobs and we both wanted to own our own business and we just kind of jumped in. It was, like, something that we talked about, and then from the moment that we talked about it until like when the store was open, it was like a matter of months.”

Jess was kind of surprised beause he says, “We started out with vintage clothes and then started selling new stuff, too, a lot of vintage, like, western wear actually in Portland.”

Jess and his wife have since closed the vintage clothing store, but his own love of vintage western wear has never faded, as evidenced by the clothes he wears on stage and in Midland’s music videos, like their latest one for “Burn Out.”

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Jess Carson – “I moved to Portland and I met my wife. We both had crappy jobs and we both wanted to own our own business and we just kind of jumped in. It was, like, something that we talked about, and then from the moment that we talked about it until like when the store was open, it was like a matter of months. We started out with vintage clothes and then started selling new stuff, too, a lot of vintage, like, western wear actually in Portland.”