Jordan Kishbaugh

Whenever people ask me how I started down the “bluegrass road” I usually tell them that my trip started several years ago, working with the rest of the family to help with some home renovations to my grandparents' house. While we worked, my uncle would put on some CDs to break the monotony. It was usually something like the Carter Family, the Stanley Brothers, or Bill Monroe. The more I started listening to that kind of music, I realized just how much I liked it better than most of the modern songs. Of all the instruments used in bluegrass music, one in particular caught my ear the most - the five-string banjo. Even though the complicated finger picking technique of playing it seemed almost impossible to me at the time, I was still determined to learn how to play the banjo.

When I was 15, I stumbled on an Internet article discussing the basics of how to play the banjo which convinced me that my dream of playing one might actually be possible. I asked my parents if they would help me get a banjo and they did. On the way home from the music store, I started playing my new banjo, even though I had no idea what I was doing, and finally took a break some eight hours later. The rest is music history. A big thank you to Wil Huckabay, my first banjo teacher, Daniel Roy, who also helped teach me, and Angie of Angie's Banjos for helping me to buy my first quality banjo.

Apart from the banjo, my curiosity has also led me to learn guitar, mandolin, slide guitar, and fiddle. Although I sometimes listen to newer music, I still prefer traditional bluegrass and country music most, especially the gospel songs. Some of my favorite artists include Reno and Smiley, Doc Watson, Merle Travis, Ernest Tubb, and Hank Williams Sr. I also enjoy learning about history, studying my Bible, and finding out more about how musical instruments are built.

Jordan Kishbaugh resides wih his parents Mark & Linda in Cypress, Texas.