Artists:Jake Schepps

Jake Schepps is known for his intelligent touch on the banjo and his imaginative variation on stringband music. He has studied traditional and progressive bluegrass with banjoists Mark Vann of Leftover Salmon and Tony Trischka, as well as composition, counterpoint, and jazz from trumpeter Dave Douglas and pianists Bill Douglas and Art Lande.

According to LuAnna, Jake Schepps is also a pretty nice guy. He has played the last two New Years Eve events at a friend's house concert venue in Colorado. Jake has he amazing ability to remember people and their names. It made me (LuAnna) feel like a million dollars when he walked up to more than three months since I had seen him at Winfield and say my name! Besides that, he takes this banjo thing to new and different dimensions. His music can be fun and lively or very mellow and subdued as well as everyhing in between. I would highly recommend any evening with Jake Shepps but most especially an all night New Years' Eve party.

In addition to his musical path, Jake has spent the past 10 years leading trips for The National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), and teaching emergency wilderness medicine for the Wilderness Medicine Institute (WMI) in locations around the world. In outdoor education, there is a constant necessity for improvisation, for boundless energy, and continuous dynamic engagement with the environment and with people. Jake believes the relationship between this style of teaching and being a musician are close-knit, and he draws heavily on this experience while playing music, in performing, composing, and collaborating.

Jake’s current musical projects include Jake Schepps and Expedition, an adventurous stringband featuring banjoist and composer Jake Schepps, Greg Schochet on guitar and mandolin, Ryan Drickey on violin and the indomitable bassist Eric Thorin. With engaging, dynamic material that reflects the Colorado aesthetic of roots music, they play music in the swing, honky-tonk, and bluegrass/old time tradition, but with intricate composition, counterpoint, and improvisation more characteristic of jazz and classical styles. Jake also plays with the 'chamber-grass' ensemble called the Strings of Tao. Over the years, Jake has performed on stage with Leftover Salmon, Yonder Mountain String Band , Matt Flinner Trio, Runaway Truck Ramp , Abigail Washburn, Jangeun Bae, Brian Prunka, Shanti Groove, Steel String Theory, and Boulder Acoustic Society.