From Racine to the Big Screen:
The Story Behind Jerome Blvd Music
Tucked quietly into the grid of Racine, Wisconsin, Jerome Blvd is a street that could be anywhere – tree-lined, modest homes, kids on bikes, the scent of backyard cookouts in the summer. But for those in the music publishing and sync licensing world, “Jerome Blvd” means something much more than a stretch of a city street. It’s the name of one of the most respected independent music companies in the business – and it all started in Racine in the 1960’s in the Mears family home on Jerome Blvd.
The Mears brothers – John, Jim and Tom grew up on Jerome Blvd where their earliest collaborations took shape performing in all the local live music venues in the area. Music wasn’t just a pastime – it was the backdrop to their lives. By the time they were teenagers, they were writing original songs and dreaming beyond the quiet streets of their hometown.
Time spent in Los Angeles convinced the brothers they needed to be in a music center. Nashville became the new home base – a city with songwriting in its bones and enough creative gravity to launch a career. For next 20 years the Mears brothers became known for crafting emotionally sharp, genre fluid songs. And although only a handful of those songs caught the attention of the Nashville artists they were writing for, they seemed to work perfectly in film and television. Their work began to appear everywhere – on major network dramas, indie films and big screen movies. Television shows like Young Sheldon, Chicago Fire, True Blood and films like Bones and All and Cop Car.
The real turning point came when filmmakers and music supervisors began coming to them, not just for their own work, but for the sound and soul they seemed to tap into so effortlessly. The brothers realized they didn’t just have a knack for writing music – they had an ear for talent.
They started signing a growing roster of songwriters, artists and producers whose work spans genres and mediums. From sync placements in major films to custom compositions for television. Jerome Blvd Music has become a go-to for music supervisors looking for something real, something resonant.
And while Jim and John Mears still call Nashville home and Tom resides in Las Vegas, Jerome Blvd is never far away – in every contract, every cue sheet and every film credit that rolls by with the name on it. That little street in Racine lives on.