About Kenny
When Kenny Jackson takes fiddle and bow in hand, great music is not far away. That superb fiddling, along with his compelling banjo, guitar, and vocal gifts makes Jackson one of the most respected old-time musicians in the country.
Music was often a part of family gatherings at his grandparents' home in northern Kentucky, where his Uncle Homer would play harmonica and guitar. As a six-year-old, Jackson picked up a few tunes and some train sounds on the "french harp" from his uncle, and at age twelve he learned to play guitar as a singing backup instrument, adding mandolin and banjo to his kit bag by the time he was twenty.
Jackson took up the fiddle around 1980, and it became his signature instrument. One of his earliest fiddling influences was the North Carolina master musician Tommy Jarrell. Jackson recalls one recording in particular, Jarrell's solo fiddle record Sail Away Ladies, "I was completely transported by Jarrell's fiddling on that record. It gave me chill bumps, seemed the most ancient yet most immediate and living music I could ever want to hear." Sadly, Jarrell died before Jackson had a chance to meet him, but what he learned about old-time music through visits with diverse elder masters like Melvin Wine (WV), Rafe Brady (NC), Bertie Dickens (NC), Lee Stoneking (MO), Violet Hensley (AR), and others profoundly influenced Jackson's musical sensibility and style.
Over the years Jackson also drew from a wealth of archival recordings of Upper South fiddlers like John Salyer, William Stepp, Marcus Martin, and Ed Haley, to name a few. Jackson was also much influenced by certain of his contemporaries, especially his old bandmate and master old-time musician Brad Leftwich, and by the legendary Dan Gellert. With these influences, and with countless hours of playing at fiddler's conventions, on back porches, and in kitchen sessions, Jackson developed his own style, rooted deep in tradition, but always sounding like Kenny Jackson.
He has been at this a long time, always in good company. In the mid-80s, he toured widely with Brad Leftwich and Linda Higginbotham. In 1988, while living in Ohio, he co-founded the influential old-time string trio The Rhythm Rats along with Paula Bradley and Whitt Mead. Then, in 1999, after moving to North Carolina, he joined with Jim Collier, Joe Newberry, and LaNelle Davis to form the old-time and early bluegrass band Big Medicine.
Over his performing career, Jackson has appeared at festivals such as MerleFest, the Ulster-American Folk Park in Omagh, N. Ireland, the Winnipeg Folk Festival, the Wheatland Music Festival, and the Appalachian String Band Music Festival. He's also appeared on a number of broadcasts such as ABC-TV's Good Morning America, BBC-Belfast Radio, the Renfro Valley Barn Dance, WPAQ's Merry-Go-Round, and the WWVA Jamboree. Add that to the many concerts, dances, and other venues where he's played, and you get a picture of a seasoned performer.
Jackson has also had an influence on developing old-time musicians around the country, teaching both individual students as well as at workshops and music camps such as Ashokan Fiddle & Dance Camp, Augusta Heritage Center, Mars Hill Blue Ridge Music Week, Alaska Fiddle Camp, and the Brandywine Friends of Old-Time Music.
He can be heard on a number of recordings, including his recent solo CD Over the Mountain; on Fever in the South and Too Old to be Controlled, with Big Medicine; and I Believe I'll Go Back Home and Pretty Crowing Chicken, with the Rhythm Rats. He can also be heard with the Rhythm Rats on the anthologies The Young Fogies, Vol. II, Old-Time Music on the Radio, Vol. II, and A Tribute to the Appalachian String Band Music Festival.
Gail Gillespie, editor of the Old-Time Herald, sums it up just right, "Kenny Jackson is one of the finest old-time musicians active today. His astonishing instrumental skill is always tempered with good taste, and his depth of knowledge and passion for the music lends a magical "old" quality to Kenny's music that appeals to listeners and to those lucky enough to play with him."
-Joe Newberry, Durham, N.C.
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