Spotlight on Tennessee Jed, performing Halloween night

Tennessee Jed

Tennessee Jed's band returns to The Blue Vine.

Start with a strong dose of lyrical singer-songwriter acoustic folk. Add a helping of catchy hooks mixed with modern rock arrangements and searing, soulful vocals. Then package everything in a hot-rod Americana string band format featuring some of the Southeast's finest bluegrass pickers and rockers. The finished product is Tennessee Jed. Born in Athens, Tenn., Jed spent most of his childhood moving throughout the South, finally settling in the Raleigh area. During this time he was exposed to many different styles of music, picking up the guitar at age 10 and winning vocal competitions by age 14.

Over the years, he played with several well-known regional North Carolina acts in drastically differing genres, including jam band One Point Five, industrial metal funk act Jam Pain Society, and future country sensation Jason Michael Carroll, during which time he shared the stage with many national acts including Brad Paisley, Darrell Worley, The Aquarium Rescue Unit, and Artimus Pyle of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Realizing that none of these genres or projects satisfied his passion for a completely integrated musical experience, he moved to Nashville to sharpen his songwriting skills and create a vision that would embrace the many styles he had incorporated into his own. Eventually he returned to North Carolina and recruited some of the best players he had encountered throughout his career for a recording project with new original material, his CD "Acoustica."

Jed's songs reveal the passion of his experience. In a world where popular music is often lacking in depth, tone, and complexity, traditional folk music remains largely overlooked due to its lack of emphasis on strong vocal hooks and modern lyrics and arrangements. Tennessee Jed strives to build a bridge between these extremes, exposing the public to the richness of acoustic music, while also presenting a pop mentality that makes the music more accessible to the mainstream public.

Find out more at www. tennesseejed.net.

The Blue Vine is located at 209 S. Main St. There will also be a Halloween party, with costume judging at 10:30 p.m.

For more information, call 704-797-0093 or visit www.thebluevine.com.