Jedd Hughes

Growing up in the small south Australian town of Quorn, Jedd was first given the gift of country music by his father, who loved the sounds of Australian traditional country singer Slim Dusty, and American icons such as Johnny Cash and Marty Robbins.

“My dad had lots of records,” Jedd recalls. “I remember listening to Johnny Cash’s ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ and ‘I Walk The Line.’ The first guitar solos I ever heard were Luther Perkins’, and for some reason that got me excited. I guess that’s what got me into guitar playing. And then Marty Robbins’ Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs – it was a reddish/pink cover with Marty dressed in black on the front. Music was always exciting to me. I used to run around the house freaking out because it affected me.”

When he wasn’t listening to music at home, much of Jedd’s childhood was spent onstage. Jedd’s dad gave him a few guitar lessons, and by age 10 he was playing a custom-made De Gruchy acoustic guitar.

Jedd’s early teens involved practicing guitar for hours – and waiting for his voice to change. “I played guitar for three years without really singing much, until I was 16 or 17,” he says. “I really concentrated on playing the electric guitar, and I worked on the acoustic guitar, too. I practiced at least three hours a day, and on school holidays I would practice eight or nine hours a day, I just wanted to be good. I wanted different tones and different sounds.”

One night on the radio, Jedd heard the Ricky Skaggs song “Country Boy” and was hooked on Skaggs’ rapid-fire blend of country and bluegrass. “That was the fastest music I’d ever heard,” he recalls. “It was pretty mind-boggling. Then I started listening to Vince Gill, because my mom was completely in love with him – and still is! I always thought his guitar solo on ‘Liza Jane’ was amazing.”

Jedd traveled throughout his teenage years, performing as a sideman with various country entertainers. After high school he attended South Plains College in Levelland, Texas, which offers a bluegrass music program. The experience was life-changing. “For starters,” he explains, “I had serious singing lessons for the first time in my life, which helped me a lot. I learned confidence in my playing and singing, and just more confidence as a human being. I mean, moving from one country to another on your own and having to get by without certain people sometimes makes you a stronger person. Looking back, it was a big step, but at the time was something I had to do. There was no option – I had to come to America.”

Soon after, Jedd moved to Nashville, and in a very short time earned the respect of Nashville’s elite.  His list of admirers is long – and reads like a “Who’s Who” of country music.  The songwriter and accomplished guitar player is beloved by such respected artists as Keith Urban, Rodney Crowell, Alison Krauss, Guy Clark and Patty Loveless.  In fact, just six weeks after landing in Music City, Jedd auditioned to be the lead guitarist for Patty Loveless – and got the gig.

During his days off from playing with Patty, Jedd was busy in the studio with Terry McBride, cutting demos which eventually became his critically-acclaimed MCA debut, TRANSCONTINENTAL, a blend of the traditional sounds Jedd loved from his childhood and the rocking country he’s absorbed as an ever-evolving artist.

Currently working on his first project for Capitol Records Nashville, Jedd continues to grow as a performer, songwriter and artist: “Country music still excites me like I’m four years old,” he adds. “There have always been so many possibilities with country. Cash was doing what he was doing, and Merle was doing his own thing, too. There were all these different country artists, but it was always still country music. And country music is still cool.”