2-Time IBMA Guitarist of the Year Jim Hurst in concert at Renaissance Center Sept. 25

Release Date: 9/8/2004. Expired: 9/25/2004

Two-time International Bluegrass Music Association Guitar Player of the Year Jim Hurst presents his unique style and world-class playing in a concert at The Renaissance Center on Sept. 25.

Tickets for the 7 p.m. show are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and $6 for children 12 and under.

One of acoustic music’s premier guitarists, Hurst is well known in bluegrass and other acoustic music as an award-winning musician with a unique style and ability. For years, Hurst has been in the support roles - on stage and in the studio - behind such names as John Cowan, Trisha Yearwood, Claire Lynch and Sara Evans while a member of their touring bands or recording projects and sessions.

In 1998, Hurst released his first solo recording, Open Window, to critical acclaim and launched him in a new career direction that includes solo performances, teaching individual lessons and as a highly sought instructor for many music camps.

In 2002, he released his second solo CD, Second Son, on Pinecastle Records, which hit the bluegrass charts and inspired Hurst to begin touring with his own five-piece bluegrass band.

A Middleboro, Ky., native, Hurst was born into a musical family and raised with a guitar in his hands. Weekend growing up were spent picking with family and friends and Hurst was influenced in his early career by flatpickers, especially Doc Watson and Clarence White. He later heard Merle Travis and Chet Atkins, calling his discovery of their fingerstyle playing “a turn in the road.”

His diverse tastes led him to play in several bands, playing rock, country, bluegrass and traditional blues. His reputation was growing when Holly Dunn came calling in 1990 and he signed on as her guitarist/harmony vocalist, touring the world, playing live TV and stunning audiences with his musicianship.

Hurst joined Yearwood’s band in 1992 and toured more extensively. In the early 1990s, he also performed with Travis Tritt, Sara Evans and the McCarter Sisters.

In search of more traditional bluegrass playing, Hurst joined IBMA Vocalist of the Year Claire Lynch in 1995, meeting bassist Missy Raines in Lynch’s band. Hurst and Raines began performing as a duet in 1998 while touring with Lynch, eventually leaving to focus on their duet career in 2000.

Hurst and Raines released two CDs that won high critical acclaim and resulted in Hurst being named Guitar Player of the Year by the IBMA in 2001 and 2002. Raines earned Bass Player of the Year honors four straight years, 1998-2001. Hurst and Raines are again nominated in those categories for the 2004 IBMA Awards to be presented Oct. 7 in Louisville, Ky.

“Jim Hurst is one of the most versatile and tasteful guitar players I know,” said recording artist Mark Shatz. “Whether he’s flailing the rhythm for an old-time fiddle tune, laying down a funky grove, or finger picking a beautiful ballad, his playing is both impeccable and creative.”

“Jim is one of the most under-rated musicians on today’s acoustic scene,” said Tim O’Brien, another artist Hurst has worked with. “He always mines a deep groove and heats things up to a rolling boil.”

“In a field known for great instrumental work, Hurst is a good as they come... His guitar playing is marked by pure abandon,” says Country Standard Time.

“Jim Hurst has an attractive vocal delivery with his songs... but it has to take a back seat to his incredible flat-picking guitar work,” says Country Music News.

Hurst is a winner of several national, state and regional contests for both instrumental and vocal abilities, including flatpicking and fingerstyle guitar, Scruggs and old-time style banjo, mandolin, as well as traditional, old-time, gospel and contemporary singing.

For more information on the Jim Hurst concert at The Renaissance Center, call (615)740-5600. For tickets, call (615)740-5570.

The Renaissance Center is an arts and technology education and performing arts center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson, just 35 miles west of Nashville on Interstate 40 at exit 172.

Visit the Events - Concerts and Recitals page for more about musical performances.

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