As Virginia’s own Jack Wharff Band heads into 2026, the sense of momentum around the group feels almost inevitable. Over the past several years they’ve been quietly but steadily building a reputation that extends well beyond their Appalachian roots, blending classic country storytelling with modern Americana energy in a way that feels both timeless and urgently now. Through relentless touring, standout festival appearances and a string of well-received releases, the band has become a fixture on the grassroots circuit, drawing in listeners who crave music that feels lived-in, honest and unpolished in all the right ways.
That growing connection with fans has translated into rising streaming numbers and increasing industry buzz, positioning the Jack Wharff Band on the brink of a genuine breakout year. Known for richly detailed songwriting and musicianship that honours tradition while still pushing forward, they’ve emerged as part of country music’s broader return to its roots. As they prepare for what could be their most defining year yet, we sat down with the band at this year's C2C festival in London to talk about their journey, their sound and how they balance heritage and innovation in their songwriting.
Thank you for your time, guys, we do know how busy you are on trips like this. Welcome to the UK! You are going to win a lot of hearts and minds at the C2C festival.
Jack: This is our first time here and we are so fired up!
You guys formed after an open night mic back in Richmond, Virginia! Talk me through how that happened!
Garrett: Ryan, our bass player, and myself, were in a rock band. We went out and played the open mic. Ryan and Jack sort of knew one another and he invited us to come up and play with him. We didn't sound half bad (laughing) and we never looked back. We found Evan (guitarist) almost two years ago now and the jigsaw was complete.
Your family were musicians, Jack. What was it like growing up in a household like that?
Jack: It was the coolest thing ever that I never want to take for granted. My mom would take me out on weekends to go watch my dad play. Fridays, Saturdays. Different breweries and places around our town, watching him play in these traditional Bluegrass bands. He was a big music guy so we'd all go out to festivals as a family too. I grew up around a lot of guitars, upright bass and mandolins just lying around in our house. Super cool.
What's the first memory of you picking up an instrument? How old would you have been?
Jack: I remember one time when my dad tried to get me to learn a D chord on the guitar. I must have been eight or nine – it hurt my fingers too much! (laughing) He put stickers where my fingers needed to go so that was helpful but I didn't have the discipline yet, at that age.
At what point did you realise that you wanted to do it for a living then?
Jack: Man. I got in trouble one time back in high school. I got grounded and one of the days my dad brought a guitar into my room and just closed the door. He left some sheet music in there, it was ‘A Team' by Ed Sheeran, and I had nothing else to do but learn it! (laughing) I feel in love at that point. I went to sleep just trying to press my fingers, get the callouses and get that bit over with! (laughing) Music became my outlet from that point.
What artists did you all grow up listening to that has influenced the sound of The Jack Wharff Band today?
Garrett: For me, on one side of the spectrum it was Willie Nelson and John Denver, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash and then on the other side it was bands like Creed and Metallica.
Evan: I mostly grew up with a lot of Gospel music because I went to a Gospel church. We would also then listen to CDs that our house made, with all these praise songs on. My mom loved R&B and Soul, so I was exposed to a lot of that and my Dad loved classic Rock although he's also from Columbia so there was a lot of Salsa music in our house too! I love Rock and Blues a lot, that's definitely my playing style.
Jack: I think it was growing up and watching my dad play Bluegrass. All those greats – Doc Watson, Tony Rice and then guys like Tyler Childers. I love Zach Bryan's lyrics and the way he is able to define his emotions in his songs.
You guys are great live musicians. You can take a three minute song and extend it into a seven minute song if you should want to. But you've also got to write three minute Pop songs to stream on Spotify so how do you manage the balance between live spontaneity and tight, recorded music?
Jack: You hook people with the three minute songs that pull in people from all type of backgrounds. Lots of people come up to us and say ‘I hate Country music but I love you guys!' That's one of my favourite type of compliments to receive. Then, when they come to our shows we can show them that other side of ourselves – we can elongate our songs, throw in these jams and even hint at one of our popular songs buried within a different one!
Evan: We love jam bands too. Jack was in a Grateful Dead cover band at one point so we all love that side of the industry as well. We can sit down and listen to a 15 minute song, easily! Working on our songs now, we're working in Nashville and working with producers who are helping us to simplify some of our music so that it still sounds cool but it's tighter or more listenable on Spotify, I guess. That's taught us to take our playability but to compress it into an accessible song.
Has the popularity of bands like 49 Winchester and Red Clay Strays opened up some doors for you that weren't there a few years ago? A Thousand Horses came along and didn't quite manage to crack the genre pre-pandemic in a way that it has opened up since then.
Jack: Yes, 100%. Those guys have really helped us. When they win, we win, right? We wanna do what they are doing and we look up to them so much. We're even getting the opportunity to go out on the road later in the year with some of them. It's so cool – rooting for them and their success allows us to do what we want to do and be ourselves.
Evan: It's so cool what a band like The Red Clay Strays are doing. They are having so much fun. You hear their songs and you're like, oh, that's so sick, but then they do this whole Gospel section and they just go nuts! It's really inspiring watching them have such fun – that's a great example of what we can do. You need to have fun playing live, jumping, going crazy.
What did lessons did you learn from making your ‘Richmond's Most Wanted' EP that has helped inform and make ‘Strange,' your new EP?
Jack: I've learned that we are building a story. Some people will be hearing us for the first time on this EP but others will have been with us from day one so it's important we define our sound to suit both groups. It's important to think about how you want to be seen too because people make all sorts of assumptions. It's your narrative to guide from one project to the next whilst always remaining honest and true to yourselves.
I'm a huge Landman fan. How did you get ‘No Way Out' onto that soundtrack because Texas and the Permian Basin are a long way from Richmond, Virginia!
Jack: To be honest I heard from Mason, my manager, who was, like ‘Hey! I got an opportunity for you to go in and write a tune for a Tyler Sheridan show!' I was like, ‘No way! Which show?' He explained it was Landman – which blew my mind. I studied up on it and watched a few trailers and stuff online and tried to work out what it was they were looking for. Left of centre, Country music. It was like a free hit for me! That's what I do! I felt really confident going in there and, praise the lord, it worked out great.
You've worked with Solon Holt on the new EP, Charlie Worsham, Ketch Secor from Old Crow Medicine Show. What's it like working with those two Nashville legends?
Garrett: We all grew up listening to those guys, it's such a blessing and doesn't quite feel real. You walk into a studio and Ketch is sitting there? Wow! Unreal.
If you could have a bucket list artist or writer to work with you on the next EP who would you choose?
Evan: I would say Sam Barber. We love him. We got to open for him which was really fun. Wyatt Flores would be really cool too.
Garrett: Billy Strings.
Jack: And Ole 60 (much appreciation here from Garrett and Evan on that suggestion)
What goals are you setting yourselves for this next phase of your career or are you just going to play it by ear and see how it evolves?
Jack: It's always important to have goals to focus on, I think. Some of those goals are to make our live experience unforgettable and unmissable. I want to throw everything we have into our live show and make that incredible. It would be great to hit certain venues and go to certain places – I mean, look at what we are doing right now here in London! I'll let you in on a little secret, we have an album coming out before the end of the year – that will be a huge milestone for us.
Will that be all new songs or will you pull across songs you already have out?
Jack: All new songs. Give or take one or two. You need to have brand new songs for a new album, right?
Check out The Jack Wharff Band's new EP ‘Strange' which came out Friday 13th March in all the usual places.
