JP Harris
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Joshua Pless "JP" Harris (born February 13, 1983) is an American country singer, songwriter, guitarist, and
clawhammer Clawhammer, sometimes called down-picking, overhand, or most commonly known as frailing, is a distinctive banjo playing style and a common component of American old-time music. The style likely descends from that of West African lutes, suc ...
banjoist based in
Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
.


Career

Harris was born in
Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama. Named for Continental Army major general Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River on the Gulf Coastal Plain. The population was 2 ...
, in 1983. He spent much of his early life between Montgomery and Dadeville, AL, where his relatives had lived since the Revolutionary War. His mother was a teacher and his father worked in heavy construction. When he was seven, his family moved to
Apple Valley, California Apple Valley is an incorporated town in the Victor Valley of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Its population was 75,791 as of the 2020 United States census. The town is east of and adjoining to the neighboring cities of Victor ...
, and later to Las Vegas. When Harris was fourteen he left home after finishing the 8th grade. After leaving home, he spent time in Oakland, California; he chose the Bay Area as the California punk bands of the 1980s and early 1990s had a major influence on his early musical development, and later spent a year in Arizona where he worked as a sheep herder for a group of Navajo elders. Throughout this time, Harris freighthopped across the US, eventually finding his way to the town of
Halifax, Vermont Halifax is a town in Windham County, Vermont, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 771. History Halifax was the second town chartered, west of the Connecticut River on May 11, 1750, by New Hampshire Governor Be ...
, where he lived for over a decade. He worked as a sheet metal scrapper, orchard worker, farmer laborer, luthier, heavy equipment operator, logger, and mainly as an historic restoration carpenter. He moved to Nashville, TN in 2011. From the time he was sixteen until his relocation to Nashville, he lived in various remote cabins without electricity or running water for nearly 13 years. Despite his busy tour schedule, Harris continues to work as a carpenter within the music community in Nashville. Harris still occasionally builds open-back banjos, though has only produced four instruments since leaving Vermont. He performs primarily with his band the Tough Choices and as a duo with Chance McCoy of
Old Crow Medicine Show Old Crow Medicine Show is an Americana (music), Americana string band based in Nashville, Tennessee, that has been recording since 1998. They were inducted into the Grand Ole Opry on September 17, 2013. Their ninth album, ''Remedy (Old Crow Med ...
. In 2014 he curated and produced the one-off Keep It Country Music Festival at Bandit Town in North Fork, CA, with the express purpose of showcasing Bakersfield country legend
Red Simpson Joe Cecil "Red" Simpson (March 6, 1934 – January 8, 2016) was an American country music singer and songwriter best known for his trucker -themed country songs. Biography Joe Cecil Simpson was born in 1934 in Higley, Arizona, and was raised ...
. This was the last major public appearance by Red before his death in 2015. The festival also featured Whitey Morgan, Nikki Lane, and other indie-country acts. Harris has continued to curate and produce recurring and one-off events for AmericanaFest, LR Baggs Acoustic Amplification, and the
Newport Folk Festival The Newport Folk Festival is an annual American folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the Newport Jazz Festival. The festival was founded by music promoter and Jazz Festival founder Geor ...
. He has performed at many of the major folk and roots festivals including Newport Folk Festival, The Lowell Folk Festival, FloydFest, and many others.


Influences

Harris heard country music growing up in Alabama but didn't start playing the genre until he left home at age 14. He's noted that he didn't appreciate the genre until he lived on his own: "The reason country music became more resonant with me as I got older is that it’s sort of identifiable by anybody. Everybody’s just working to get by, and country music just happens to be the soundtrack to that.” After his interest in punk and heavy metal waned in his teenage years, he discovered the
old-time music Old-time music is a genre of North American folk music. It developed along with various North American folk dances, such as square dancing, contra dance, clogging, and buck dancing. It is played on acoustic instruments, generally centering ...
scene and began playing clawhammer banjo. "All I wanted to do was go to fiddler's conventions all summer long and play music till the sun came up," says Harris. "So, at that time, I was really opposed to plugging anything in, even people putting pickups on their guitars." His musical style has also been heavily influenced by the early country music of the
Carter Family The Carter Family was an American folk music group that recorded and performed between 1927 and 1956. Regarded as one of the most important music acts of the early 20th century, they had a profound influence on the development of bluegrass, c ...
, Jimmie Rodgers, Doc Watson, and the 1960s and 70s generation of artists like
George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American Country music, country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for a long list of hit records, and is well known for his distinctive voice an ...
,
Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...
,
Waylon Jennings Waylon Arnold Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He is considered one of the pioneers of the Outlaw country, outlaw movement in country music. Jennings started playing ...
, and
Merle Haggard Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential figures in country music, he was a central pioneer of the Bakersfield ...
. Harris describes his music as simply "country," however others have noted influences like
western swing Western swing, country jazz or smooth country is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands. It is dance music, often with an up-tempo beat, which att ...
,
honky-tonk A honky-tonk (also called honkatonk, honkey-tonk, honky tonk, or tonk) is either a bar that provides country music for the entertainment of its patrons or the style of music played in such establishments. It can also refer to the type of piano ...
, outlaw country, and the Bakersfield sound. ''Wide Open Country'' has described Harris' voice as "timeless."


Discography

*''I'll Keep Calling'' (JP Harris and the Tough Choices, 2011), Cow Island Music *''Home Is Where The Hurt Is'' (JP Harris and the Tough Choices, 2014), Cow Island Music *''Sometimes Dogs Bark at Nothing'' (2018),
Free Dirt Records Free Dirt Records is an American independent record label and label services company founded in 2006 by John Smith and Erica Haskell that releases folk and Traditional music, roots music. The label's releases have received three Grammy Award, Gram ...
*''Don't You Marry No Railroad Man'' (JP Harris' Dreadful Wind and Rain, 2021), Free Dirt Records *''JP Harris is a Trash Fire'' (2024),
Bloodshot Records Bloodshot Records is an independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois, which specializes in alternative country music. History Bloodshot Records was founded in 1994 by Nan Warshaw, Rob Miller, and Eric Babcock, who knew each other from ...


with Chance McCoy

*''Two Bad Hombres'' (2017), self-released


EPs and singles

*''Why Don't We Duet in the Road'' (2016), Demolition & Removal Records *''Why Don't We Duet in the Road (Again)'' (2019), Demolition & Removal Records *''Take Off Your Tin Foil Hat'' (2021), Demolition & Removal Records


References


External links

*
JP Harris at Discogs.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, JP 1983 births 21st-century American male singers 21st-century American singer-songwriters American country singer-songwriters American male guitarists Country musicians from Alabama Country musicians from Tennessee Singer-songwriters from Tennessee American street performers Living people 21st-century American guitarists Guitarists from Alabama Guitarists from Tennessee American male singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from Alabama