James Nash (born June 14, 1973) is an American guitarist and singer best known for his work with the band

the Waybacks The Waybacks are an American four-piece band based in the San Francisco Bay area of California. Their style has been alternately described as Americana, Progressive bluegrass, rock-n-roll, folk, and acoustic mayhem. They described themselves as ...

Career

Nash has performed with self-described "acoustic mayhem" quartet

since 1999, performing at venues such as the Kennedy Center, Ryman Auditorium, Old Town School of Music, the Warfield, the Fillmore, and the Bumbershoot and Wakarusa festivals. He has performed with the

Philadelphia Orchestra The Philadelphia Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One of the " Big Five" American orchestras, the orchestra is based at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, where it performs its subscription ...

at the

Mann Center The Mann Center for the Performing Arts (formerly known as the Robin Hood Dell West and Mann Music Center) is a nonprofit performing arts center located in the Centennial District of Philadelphia's West Fairmount Park, built in 1976 as the summer ...

, with the

Chattanooga Symphony Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

, and with artists such as

Bob Weir Robert Hall Weir ( ; né Parber, born October 16, 1947) is an American musician and songwriter best known as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. After the group disbanded in 1995, Weir performed with The Other Ones, later known as The Dead ...

, Joan Osborne,

Sam Bush Charles Samuel Bush (born April 13, 1952) is an American mandolinist who is considered an originator of progressive bluegrass music. In 2020, he was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame as a member of New Grass Revival. ...

Rodney Crowell Rodney Crowell (born August 7, 1950) is an American musician, known primarily for his work as a singer and songwriter in country music. Crowell has had five number one singles on Hot Country Songs, all from his 1988 album '' Diamonds & Dirt''. ...

, and Jens Kruger. In 2017, Nash was named one of the 50 best acoustic guitarists of all time by '' Guitar Player''. He is an Artist Ambassador for the

Santa Cruz Guitar Company The Santa Cruz Guitar Company is an American manufacturer of acoustic guitars, located in Santa Cruz, California. The company was started in 1976 by luthier Richard B. Hoover, who is reputed to have "trained some of the most accomplished contempora ...

Style

Nash blends bluegrass, swing, country, jazz, and experimental rock influences, and is known for adapting

solid body thumb , Sound sample of solid-body electric guitar. A solid-body musical instrument is a string instrument such as a guitar, bass or violin built without its normal sound box and relying on an electromagnetic pickup system to directly detect th ...

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

techniques to the traditional steel-string acoustic guitar. In 2011, he released an instructional DVD ''Making the Acoustic Guitar Rock!'' on

Homespun Home spun literally refers to hand spinning, see spinning (textiles). Homespun may refer to: * Homespun fabric, especially that worn by American colonists who were boycotting British goods * "Homespun", pseudonym of Benjamin Franklin in ''The Ha ...

. In 2017, Nash was chosen alongside Chet Atkins, Django Reinhardt, and Michael Hedges as "50 transcendent superheroes of wood, steel, and nylon" by '' Guitar Player'' magazine.

Hillside Album Hour

In 2008, Nash began producing and directing the "Hillside Album Hour" at Merlefest in North Carolina. Featured performers have included

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. He has won multiple awards in his career, including a Grammy Award in ...

Emmylou Harris Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. She has released dozens of albums and singles over the course of her career and has won 14 Grammys, the Polar Music Prize, and numerous other honors, including ...

, Gillian Welch, Susan Tedeschi, and Joan Osborne. In 2017, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' magazine dubbed the event "one of the most anticipated performances of the festival," and described the band's adaptation of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" as "an inventive tribute studded with sounds that spanned the psychedelic era". As of 2019, the event has taken place for 12 consecutive years.

Discography

Nash’s recording credits include acoustic and electric guitar, bottleneck guitar, mandolin, bass, vocals, songwriter, arranger, engineer, and producer.

With The Waybacks

* ''Devolver'' (2000) * ''Burger After Church'' (2002) * ''Way Live'' (2003) * ''From the Pasture to the Future'' (

Compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with ...

, 2006) * ''Loaded'' (

, 2008) * ''Hillside Album Hour 2008: Led Zeppelin II'' (2009) * ''Merlefest Watson Stage w/Special Guests'' (2009) * ''Hillside Album Hour 2010: Abbey Road'' (2011) * ''Hillside Album Hour 2011: Eat A Peach'' (2012)

As producer

The Waybacks The Waybacks are an American four-piece band based in the San Francisco Bay area of California. Their style has been alternately described as Americana, Progressive bluegrass, rock-n-roll, folk, and acoustic mayhem. They described themselves as ...

, ''Secret Stage Mixes Vol. 1 - 3'' (2009) *

, ''Hendrix on the Hillside'' (2013) *

, ''After The Flood'' (2014) *

, ''Deja View'' (2015) *

, ''Back in the USA'' (2016) *

, ''Birdsongs ''(2017) *

, ''With A Lotta Help From Our Friends'' (2018) *

, ''Full On The Hill'' (2019) * Mokai, ''The Jaybird Said'' (2019) *

, ''Stairway To Hillside'' (2020) *

, ''Halfway To Heaven'' (2022)

With others

* Occams Razor, ''Occams Razor'' (1992) * Occams Razor, ''Mister Moon'' (1995) * JT & the Clouds, ''Delilah'' (2002) * Corinne West, ''Bound For The Living'' (2004) * Patty and Abigail, ''Here We Go Again'' (2005) * Various, ''Songs for Sophie: A Collings Collective'' (2005) * Corinne West, ''The Promise'' (2009) * The Cowlicks, ''Hey, Hey We're The Cowlicks'' (2009) * Jesse Brewster, ''Wrecking Ball at the Concert Hall'' (2010) * Toby, ''Sleeptalk'' (2010) * Sherry Austin, ''Love Still Remains'' (2010) * Scott Gagner, ''Rhapsody In Blonde'' (2011) * T Sisters, ''Ready for Love'' (2015)

Music technology

Nash has a degree in computer science from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. In 2010, Nash was musical curator for TEDxAlcatraz in San Francisco, including productions with the

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...

’s

and cellist Peter Gregson. His TEDx talk “Russell County Gorge” was featured in the 2011 TEDx Global Music Project. In 2012, Nash co-founded the music streaming app Spacebar, which was featured at the 2013

TechCrunch TechCrunch is an American online newspaper focusing on high tech and startup companies. It was founded in June 2005 by Archimedes Ventures, led by partners Michael Arrington and Keith Teare. In 2010, AOL acquired the company for approximately ...

Disrupt in New York. Nash and Spacebar hold multiple US Patents for asynchronous audio and video streaming. Nash is a regular gear review contributor to '' Guitar Player'' magazine.

Personal life

Nash is a frequent

Little League Baseball Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization In 2015 he received a Willie Mac Award from the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

for leadership in youth coaching. Nash and his partner Miranda have two sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nash, james American male guitarists American male singers American rock guitarists American session musicians American male songwriters Musicians from North Carolina American mandolinists Acoustic guitarists Compass Records artists 1973 births Living people