Jake Krack (born 1984) son of Reed and Dara Krack, is a prominent young old-time fiddler and fiddle teacher from Nicut in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

. He began fiddling at age six
or eight. His teachers include Bobby Taylor,

Lester McCumbers Lester McCumbers (August 15, 1921 – January 26, 2015) was an American old-time fiddler from Nicut, West Virginia. His students included Erynn Marshall and Jake Krack. He also made fiddles, sometimes using local woods. He utilized the " ...

, Melvin Wine, Brad Leftwich, Joe Thompson, Wilson Douglas, and Glen Smith.

Musical career

He received a B.A. degree from

Berea College Berea College is a private liberal arts work college in Berea, Kentucky. Founded in 1855, Berea College was the first college in the Southern United States to be coeducational and racially integrated. Berea College charges no tuition; every adm ...

in Kentucky in 2007, where his friends called him "Jack". He has had two internships: at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

with music archivist Jeff Place and with the

West Virginia Humanities Council West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

, working on the Mountain Music Heritage Project. Krack performed on the ''

A Prairie Home Companion ''A Prairie Home Companion'' is a weekly radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor that aired live from 1974 to 2016. In 2016, musician Chris Thile took over as host, and the successor show was eventually renamed ''Live from He ...

'' radio program in 1998, and on the ''

Mountain Stage ''Mountain Stage'' is a two-hour music radio show, first aired in 1983, produced by West Virginia Public Broadcasting and distributed worldwide by National Public Radio (NPR). Hosted by Larry Groce from the show's inception until 2021 and current ...

'' radio program in 2000. Also in 2000 he performed at the

Millennium Stage The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

of the

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

. He performed at MerleFest in 2002 and in the 2003

Smithsonian Folklife Festival The Smithsonian Folklife Festival, launched in 1967, is an international exhibition of living cultural heritage presented annually in the summer in Washington, D.C. in the United States. It is held on the National Mall for two weeks around the Fo ...

. He has won first place in old-time fiddle at the Galax Fiddlers Convention in

Galax, Virginia Galax is an independent city in the southwestern part of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,720. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Galax with neighboring Carroll County for statisti ...

(2003, 2006, and 2008), the Henry Reed Festival (2007), the Clifftop festival in

Clifftop, Fayette County, West Virginia Clifftop is an unincorporated community in Fayette County, West Virginia, United States. Attractions It is the home of historic Camp Washington-Carver Complex, which hosts the Appalachian String Band Music Festival the first weekend in August. Th ...

(2006), the Mount Airy Fiddlers' Convention in

Mount Airy, North Carolina Mount Airy is a city in Surry County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 10,611. History Mount Airy was settled in the 1750s as a stagecoach stop on the road between Winston-Salem, North Carolina an ...

(2002, 2004, and 2009), and the under-60 category at the Vandalia Gathering in

Charleston, West Virginia Charleston is the capital and List of cities in West Virginia, most populous city of West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Elk River (West Virginia), Elk and Kanawha River, Kanawha rivers, the city had a population of 48,864 at the 20 ...

(2002). He compiled, arranged, and co-produced the 2007

Smithsonian Folkways Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was fou ...

CD ''Classic Old-time Fiddle From Smithsonian Folkways'', and coproduced Lester McCumbers' CD ''Old Timey''. He was featured in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' in 1999 and appeared in the 2004

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

documentary ''Soundmix: Five Young Musicians''.

Discography

As leader

*''Second Time Around'' *''Hope I'll Join the Band'' *''Wire Fire'' *''Home at Last'' *''One More Time'' *''How 'bout that'' *''Git er Done''

With Todd Clewell

*''Jake's Ramble''

With The Hog Hollar Stringband

*''The Great Compromise''

With Doug Van Gundy

*''Two Far Gone''

Compilations

*''Oasis Acoustic: Volume 1'' (4-CD set)

Films

*2004 - ''Soundmix: Five Young Musicians''

References

External links

Jake Krack official site
October 10, 1999

Video

Clifftop documentary
featuring Jake Krack {{DEFAULTSORT:Krack, Jake Appalachian old-time fiddlers People from Calhoun County, West Virginia 1984 births Berea College alumni Living people Musicians from West Virginia 21st-century American violinists Male violinists 21st-century American male musicians