Jack West: The Acoustic Spank Project featuring James Nash
Saturday, March 6th @ 7:30PM | Donna M. Morris Theater
*Tickets $30 – $40 | CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS
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*Field Hall will open to the public at 5PM. Theater doors open 30 minutes prior to showtimes.
“A modern acoustic guitar virtuoso, Jack West is regarded for his rhythmic style, adept at simultaneously playing percussion-based lines, slide, and bass.” – Audiophile Audition
“A restlessly creative musician…dazzling combination of bluesy slide work, finger picking, and unorthodox percussive techniques.” – Jazz Perspectives, Reese Erlich
Acoustic guitarist and composer Jack West creates highly rhythmic, modern acoustic music. With his innovative percussive approach, West simultaneously plays drums, bass and guitar parts, blending American folk, rock and bluegrass into a compelling new style of acoustic music in the vein of Leo Kottke, David Grisman, Rodrigo y Gabriela, or Michael Hedges.
Jack’s new progressive bluegrass project with tastefully shredding guitarist and mandolin player James Nash (of The Waybacks fame) grooves amazingly hard for two unadorned acoustic guitars. Jack’s new work features arrangements of traditional Appalachian melodies, placing them in imaginative new rhythmic territory.
The Duo will play tunes from Jack’s current album ‘Guitars on Life’ as well as material from his upcoming ‘Spank Grass’ album, a series of Duets and Trios featuring mandolinists Mike Marshall and Jacob Jolliff, dobro master Andy Hall, Billy Strings’ fiddle player Alex Hargreaves, and guitarist James Nash. ‘Guitars on Life’ has been praised as “deliciously funky” (AllAboutJazz), “riveting and exhilarating” (TheAbsoluteSound), “a jaw-dropping joyride” (Downbeat), and “bracingly creative” (AllMusic.com).
Check out Jack’s YouTube Channel @jackwestguitar
ABOUT JACK WEST
A modern-day Les Paul—with significant accolades both as musician and as inventor—Jack West has developed an unmistakably original and seriously grooving approach to the acoustic guitar. Downbeat recently described the style of music he’s creating as “jaw-dropping” with “an uncanny penchant for groove”. West makes this music with new types of acoustic guitars he’s invented along with new techniques for playing them.
West’s music is solidly rooted in American folk, rock, jazz, and funk—in equal doses—with influences as far-ranging as Doc Watson, Leo Kottke, Michael Hedges, Duane Allman, Jaco Pastorius, and Bootsy Collins. You’ll hear some aspect of each of these in there, but West builds on the past with enough new ideas to keep the music fresh. And some of those new ideas are in the actual tones he produces with the techniques and instruments he’s invented. West’s current concerts and upcoming album project will feature his latest creation, a half-fretted, half-fretless acoustic guitar with octave strings on the fretless half of the neck. The sound of this instrument ranges from other-worldly to seriously funky.
The idiosyncratic guitar technique Jack West has developed is characterized by simultaneous playing of percussion parts, bass lines, and chords. He’s a one-man rhythm section with an impressive sense for feel and groove. Dubbed the “Acoustic Spank” technique—because West spanks the top forcefully at times to produce a snare drum-like crack—West’s playing features intricate layering of parts that are further enhanced by a special thumbpick of his own invention.
Jack West has released seven albums of original music, all receiving widespread critical acclaim, and performs regularly at festivals and venues across the U.S. Jack’s latest album, Guitars on Life, came out in February 2026. He’s currently working on a new album that showcases his virtuosic guitar work in a series of duos and trios with top bluegrass artists including Mike Marshall (of David Grisman Quintet fame), Andy Hall (from the Infamous Stringdusters), James Nash (from The Waybacks), and Jacob Jolliff (Yonder Mountain, Belá Fleck).
ABOUT JAMES NASH
James Nash is no stranger to musical diversity. As at home with Charlie Parker and Bill Monroe as he is with Django Reinhardt and Jimi Hendrix, the accomplished guitarist embraces the potential challenges of playing multiple genres with both joy and aplomb.
Nash’s broad vocabulary, both as scholar and stylist, has led to a genre-bending approach that has served him well for a decade as a lead guitarist, singer, and songwriter for the eclectic and virtuosic Americana ensemble, The Waybacks. Similarly, they make him a fitting helmsman for both the electric rock ‘n soul grooves of The Nomads and the daredevil acoustic escapades of The NashVillains.
Honored in 2017 by Guitar Player as one of “50 Transcendent Acoustic Guitarists,” James’ musical breadth is readily matched by his astonishing facility as a player and dynamism as a performer, leading reviewers to describe him as “graceful but fiery… elegant and colorful… rampantly eclectic” (Guitar Player), and praise his “near-ideal balance of irreverence, chops, discipline, and originality” (Chicago Tribune). Heralded by Acoustic Guitar as a “revered new-acoustician,” he approaches the flat-top steel-string guitar with both the subtleties and bravado of a rock guitarist. His spirited improvisational flights, whether on his Santa Cruz acoustic or electric Fender Stratocaster, are dazzling to behold, a deft combination of innate musicality and jaw-dropping technique.
Raised in Nashville, his musical career began to take shape when he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1991 to attend Stanford University, where he earned a BS from their Engineering School while spending his nights gigging in local clubs and making the rounds cutting tracks in legendary rooms like Fantasy Studios and Coast Recorders.
Along that musical path, James has recorded a dozen albums and performed at countless festivals and venues across the country, serving as bandleader for ensembles with the likes of everyone from Elvis Costello to Emmylou Harris, Bela Fleck to Bob Weir, Chris Thile and Jerry Douglas to Darol Anger and Mike Marshall.
Wedding his musical and tech-savvy sides, he worked with the founders of Pandora to create the Music Genome Project. He also served as co-curator of TEDxAlcatraz 2010 and was a featured performer of the 2011 TEDx Global Music Project, offshoots of the renowned TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Conference.
James has been interviewed, featured, and had his solos transcribed in numerous magazines, Wired, Guitar Player, Acoustic Guitar, Flatpicking, and Dirty Linen among them. His music has been featured on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered and Folk Alley and he is a contributing writer and reviewer for Guitar Player. His forthcoming instructional DVD, “Acoustic Guitar on the Edge,” evidences both the technically disciplined and free spirited player he has become.
Our mission is to make art accessible to everyone. Financial assistance is available for this event through our #fieldhallforall program. Patrons can request a discount of up to 100%. Click here to apply for financial assistance.
