Artists

London-based session guitarist, Jake Willson, is quickly garnering a reputation as one of the most exciting and versatile new voices in the guitar world.

Jake was awarded a scholarship to study guitar at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, USA, and upon returning to the UK, completed his degree and began performing around the country with a wide range of ensembles playing everything from modern fusion and hard-edged blues to commercial rock and pop. Among recent gig highlights are the British Summertime Festival at Hyde Park and the 2013 British Grand Prix, Silverstone.

As well as playing guitar, Jake maintains a parallel career as a composer, and his works are regularly performed by world-class musicians. He is currently studying for a PhD in Classical Composition at the University of Surrey, where he is an associate lecturer in the fields of orchestration, jazz studies, performance and composition.

On August 21, 1939, James Burton was born in Dubberly, Louisiana, but he grew up in Shreveport. Before he ever picked up a guitar, he would be beating on broom sticks and beat on pretty much everything else around the house. His parents got him his first guitar, which was an acoustic one. His second guitar was also an acoustic one, but it was in a J&S Music store in Shreveport where he first saw the ‘53 Fender Telecaster and knew that this was the guitar for him.

James has earned the right to be called ‘legend’ over the years that have followed, and is considered to be a true master of his art.

Jason T. Miller had little chance of making a career for himself in anything other than music, and this was clear from a very young age. In fact, it probably began at around eight-years-old, when he picked up the guitar for the first time.

Years after veteran TV/film composer and arranger, Bruce Miller, bought the instrument for his son, Jason, they’d find themselves frequent collaborators (as co-composers of many primetime network TV shows). Today, Bruce can add the role of proud father to his list of credits, as Jason has established himself as a dynamic, versatile, independent behind-the-scenes force in the music industry.

When Jimmy was 12 years old, his father took him to see a musician named Gene Johnson, who played the mandolin, in a small club near Detroit, MI. Gene became one of Jimmy’s bluegrass hero’s and later on his partner in the group Diamond Rio. Jimmy was born in Minneapolis, MN on August 26 and when he was a teenager he had already mastered the banjo and gave lessons, however, by the time he was in college in Nashville, he found out that guitar players were more in demand than banjo pickers, so he mastered the guitar.

Jimmy joined the Tennessee River Boys in 1984 at Opryland theme park alongside Marty and Dan. His musical influences are Earl Scruggs, Leon Rhodes and Clarence White and one of his all-time favorite singers is Ella Fitzgerald.

Jimmy is married and he and his wife adopted two boys and are enjoying family life. Jimmy also enjoys sky diving and weight training.

Joe Arick began his musical voyage at age 6 playing piano for his family’s traveling gospel quartet. His love of music and the piano, led him to teach himself multiple instruments.

In 2004, Joe moved to Nashville and in 2005 he landed his first nationally touring gig as bassist/bandleader for Big Machine recording artist Danielle Peck. Since then he has worked with several artists including Chuck Wicks, Julianne Hough, Josh Turner, Sarah Buxton, Hunter Hayes, Florida Georgia Line, and others.

John Cameron Fogerty was born on May 28, 1945, in Berkeley, California. One of five brothers, Fogerty developed his early musical capabilities on the family piano and received his first guitar at age 12. At 14, he formed a band called the Blue Velvets with two classmates, drummer Doug Clifford and bass player Stu Cook. Fogerty’s older brother Tom eventually joined the band as a rhythm guitarist and co-vocalist.

Renamed the Golliwogs after signing with Fantasy Records in 1964, the band scored a minor local hit with ”Brown Eyed Girl” in 1965. Fogerty was drafted shortly afterward, and he later recalled the seemingly endless marching drills with the Army Reserve as a catalyst for all sorts of creative imagery. He rejoined his bandmates with a renewed focus on writing, and the group changed its name to Creedence Clearwater Revival in 1967.

Fogerty is a legend. That’s all there is to say.

“I have been working full time as a guitarist, composer and producer for the last 30 years and have been lucky enough to work with some amazing country artists and some of my heroes along the way. From the new generation of country stars like The Shires, to legends such as Gene Watson, Moe Bandy and Larry Gatlin and from my country guitar hero Albert Lee to rock virtuosos like Paul Rose. I’m currently MD and guitarist with Decca recording artist and Ireland’s country sensation Nathan Carter and as such, am recording and touring at home and abroad.”

Guitarist, Jon Skibic, is a member of The Afghan Whigs. An alumnus of Berklee College of Music, Jon was a member of the Boston power pop group the Gigolo Aunts and has toured with such diverse acts as The Blue Man Group, The Twilight Singers, The Watson Twins, Juliana Hatfield, Fountains of Wayne, and the musical, Rock of Ages. His performance skills have taken him on-screen with Jimmy Kimmel Live, Later with Jools Holland, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, the CBS Morning Show, and America’s Got Talent.

Kerry Marx is a guitarist living in Nashville, Tennessee. His foremost endeavor is recording for artists, jingles, and TV, although he does a variety of live TV and stage work also.

He plays on the Grand Ole Opry every week as a member of the Opry staff band, performing with an average of 10-15 artists per week. If you check his bio, you’ll get an idea of who some of these artists are.

Kerry was born in Shelby, North Carolina on January 26th, 1954 and grew up in Aiken, South Carolina. Playing bass and guitar in bands as a teenager, he then studied music at the University of South Carolina after high school. After deciding to concentrate on guitar, he attended North Texas State University in Denton, Texas with a concentration in jazz guitar, before moving to Nashville in 1981. In these last 31 years, Kerry has played a variety of jazz, pop, rock, and country music in the Nashville recording scene, as well as traveling to other cities to do the same. For the last 10 years, Kerry has been dividing his time between these more traditional methods of recording and recording at his state-of-the-art home studio. There he has done work for ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, Disney, CMT, and the Dick Clark company, as well as countless jingles and record projects.

Country: United States Band: Chris Young