JP Harris & The Tough Choices

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Image courtesy of Sala Razzmatazz.

JP Harris started by rocking out old country songs next to the fire, and by his mid-twenties, he discovered his ability to compose, and decided that after years of no ambition for fame or intention of breaking into the music business, he was going to put together a band and give it a go as a musician. 

So, in 2011, he moved to Nashville, where he would combine his passion for music with his steady job as a carpenter and restoration artist, and began recording one album after another: his debut I’ll Keep Calling, Home Is Where the Hurt Is (2014), Sometimes Dogs Bark at Nothing (2018), the traditional Appalachian-sounding, banjo-focused album from his project Dreadful Wind & Rain, where he is often accompanied by former Old Crow Medicine Show member Chance McCoy and Don’t You Marry No Railroad Man (2021). All of his albums brim with honky-tonk sound, Bakersfield-style country, and every other sub-genre of traditional country music, all topped off by Harris’ robust baritone voice giving a timeless feel.

In 2023, and for nine months, he began playing the songs that would be part of his next album, influenced by an obscure old folk album by Waylon Jennings and the albums of Lee Hazelwood, directed in production by his friend JD McPherson. With star guests such as Erin Rae, The Watson Twins and Shovels & Rope, JP Harris Is a Trash Fire (2024) was born, an album endowed with an underground aura, punk ethics, folk aesthetics and an “outlaw” character. Because Harris remains an “outsider,” when he is not on tour, you can find him restoring old houses, assembling his motorcycle, or rummaging through mechanical spare parts—authenticity in its purest form.

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