George Jackson

George Jackson is a Nashville-based fiddle player and the 2022 IBMA Instrumentalist Of The Year Momentum Award Winner, who performs as a band leader and fiddler for hire with artists such as The Jacob Jolliff Band, Jake Blount, Tall Poppy String Band, Brad Kolodner, The Local Trio, Peter Rowan, Missy Raines, and others. George is known for his original fiddle tunes of which he?s composed a number of widely played modern standards, and his dedication to the study of traditions in Old Time and Bluegrass fiddling. Born in New Zealand, George grew up in a musical family and first heard bluegrass music around the age of 14, immediately falling in love with the style he started trying to work out how to play it from recordings and from mentors in New Zealand. As a resident of Nashville and the USA from 2016, George has released four albums of fiddle tunes, "Time and Place" in 2019 and "Hair & Hide" in 2021 and most recently two albums as ?George Jackson?s Local Trio? with Eli Broxham and Frank Evans in 2023 and 2026. He was awarded first place in the Mike Auldridge tune composition award by the DC bluegrass union in both 2019 and 2021 for his tunes "Chapel Hill Deer Stalk" and "Neighbor Mike" respectively. He also sparked a viral fiddle tune frenzy with his composition "Dorrigo", when hundreds of musicians learned the tune and posted videos of themselves playing it online, becoming known as the "#dorrigochallenge". In his free time, George loves to watch Star Trek and cook food at home, with recent obsessions in Italian and Cajun fare. He loves Swedish fiddle music and ?fun fact? he was a competitive Highland dancer until the age of 21.