JASON DERLATKA

Based in both Nashville and Los Angeles but originally from the remote Montana town of Alberton
(population: 452), Derlatka grew up in a small cabin with no electricity or running water and partly
attributes his vast imagination to countless hours spent playing alone in the woods as a kid. An
undeniably gifted musician who took up piano at the age of four, he began studying piano at the
University of Montana at just 11-years-old and later explored his fascination with music production
with the help of a multi-track recorder borrowed from the band director at his high school. While
earning his bachelor’s degree in music at UM, Derlatka was chosen to perform as part of an arts-
department fundraiser attended by David Foster (the legendary composer/producer known for his
work with Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, and many more), who immediately took note of his
outsize talent and urged him to move to Los Angeles to immerse himself in the music business.
After graduating and relocating to L.A., Derlatka honed his production skills in elite studios like the
Record Plant in Hollywood. Within a few years, he’d landed production credits on major projects
like R&B superstar Brandy’s platinum-selling LP Full Moon and branched out into composing for
commercials—a turn of events that soon found him crossing paths with his longtime collaborator
Jon Ehrlich.
 
Derlatka’s commercial work quickly led to his first TV scoring job, a ghostwriting gig on the era-
defining Party of Five. In an early testament to his razor-sharp dramatic instincts, he earned an Emmy
nomination for his first-ever credited scoring work after he and Ehrlich joined forces on the CBS
action-spy series The Agency. With his credits now including an enormous range of projects (The
WB’s adventure-drama Tarzan, NBC’s single-camera sitcom About a Boy, Fox’s medical drama The
Resident, to name a few), he garnered his second Emmy nomination for his work on House, M.D.—a
smash-hit series whose moody yet powerful score offers a prime example of his distinct sensibilities.
No matter what genre he’s working in, Derlatka’s creative process relies on a potent interplay of
elements, including his vast sonic vocabulary, multifaceted musicianship, and deep-rooted affinity
for free-flowing experimentation. “In a way it feels like finger-painting: you try little things and see
how they hit emotionally, then pull it back or dial it up depending on what feels right,” he explains.
“A lot of the time we’re working with instruments in unconventional ways, but in the end it’s not
just about writing music—it’s about using all of these sonic choices to support the emotional life of
a scene.”
 
A formidable creative force, Derlatka opened up a new lane of his career back in 2018, when he
tapped into his lifelong love of singing and put together a selection of immaculately produced
renditions of songs like U2’s “Pride (In the Name of Love)” and Chicago’s “Hard to Say I’m Sorry.”
Although he began posting the covers as a passion project, his soulful take on Journey’s “Send Her
My Love” ultimately caught the attention of the diamond-selling, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-
inducted band, who soon invited Derlatka to join their lineup. “It was a huge shift and such a rush
to go from spending so many years working alone in the studio to singing ‘Don’t Stop Believin’’ in

front of tens of thousands of people,” he reveals. As he unlocked new facets of his expansive
artistry, Derlatka also released an original song called “Something Higher”—a piano-driven
powerhouse that brings his soaring vocals to a lived-in meditation on faith and perseverance.
Written in a moment of personal upheaval and recorded with a gospel choir, the profoundly
uplifting track surpassed a million YouTube views in several months with no promotional push. “I
was going through a very tough time and felt completely stuck no matter how hard I tried to change
things,” Derlatka recalls. “I started writing about drawing on my faith to power through and reach a
better place, and ‘Something Higher’ came together almost like a prayer itself. I felt like it might
resonate with other people who may be struggling and help them to find hope in their own lives.”
 
As he moves forward with his kaleidoscopic career, Derlatka continues to take on projects that
speak to his heart. “I’m always looking for stories I can sink my teeth into, emotionally speaking,” he
says. “At this point I’ve worked in all different genres, but I tend to be most proud of the scoring
that’s more nuanced—something that lets the audience feel, without dictating how they’re supposed
to feel. It’s a delicate needle to thread, but it’s incredibly satisfying to watch the completed work and
see how the music brings you deeper into the story being told on screen.”