When you’re just starting out playing music, Jason Eady said, “you’re told to only play cover songs.” Then, as you meet with some success, people want to hear your own material. After a while, though, he said, you want to play cover songs again.

In his recent solo acoustic performance at Jammin Java — his first time in that venue — Jason took the opportunity to delve into his musical roots, playing a selection of songs that influenced him in addition to his own original tunes.

Though he’s become known as a representative of the Texas tradition of singer-songwriters, Eady was born near Jackson, Mississippi, in 1975 and grew up there. His latest album, released last year, takes its name from his home state. He began his set with the album’s lead-off track, “Way Down in Mississippi.” “Every verse,” he said, “is a different genre of music I grew up on.”