Jason Krekel

Jason Krekel attended Jimmy Buffett concerts as a baby—strapped to his father Tim's back while dad played lead guitar—absorbing the songwriter, studio, and publishing scene of Nashville before he could even speak. When his father handed him a guitar at 14 with zero pressure attached, young Krekel took lessons with future collaborator Jay Sanders, played their first gig together in 11th grade, then headed to Boone for college where he dove headfirst into bluegrass, old-time, and whatever else had strings attached.

Three decades later, this multi-instrumentalist has built an Asheville empire of sound that defies categorization: hot jazz revivalist with the Firecracker Jazz Band (playing Bonnaroo and keeping 1920s dance floors packed), surf rock tornado with The Krektones, punk ukulele provocateur in Mad Tea Party/Krekel and Whoa, bluegrass explorer with Snake Oil Medicine Show, and collaborator with everyone from Seattle guitar legend Baby Gramps to Trombone Shorty. His philosophy on why vintage jazz still slaps? "People had to make their entertainment. They couldn't just push a button and get a Spotify playlist."

Krekel doesn't just play music—he designs album covers through his Hand-Cranked Letterpress, appeared on David Letterman, recorded comedy songs for LaZoom tours, and somehow made the 2004 BlueBrass Project (Asheville roots meeting New Orleans brass) make perfect sense. His latest venture, Bam-A-Lam (launched 2023), proves his point: "Everything I've done in my musical life has informed how I play now."

From banjo to guitar, from Jazz Age parlors to garage rock chaos, from Nashville birthright to Asheville chosen-home, Krekel proves that the most interesting careers spiral outward like vinyl grooves—each rotation revealing new collaborations, new sounds, new reasons to make people care about music made with actual hands.