Jeff Hersk profile picture

Jeff Hersk

About Me

Hi y'all. I am an upright bassist currently residing in Asheville, NC, USA. The upright bass became my obsession about 8 years ago, after much less satisfying careers in auto body repair, rural homesteading, and computer programming. I played guitar for many years, performing in rock bands in Canada and California in the '70s, but I now find that I was meant to be a bassist. I studied bass and jazz in general at the Nashville Jazz Workshop from 1999 - 2002. At the same time, I formed an acoustic group called Carnival Knowledge for the purpose of playing contradances. The players were mostly from the bluegrass or old-time world, but with my jazz background, I got 'em playing Caravan and Song for My Father and I Found a New Baby for contra with great results. Moving to Asheville, I pictured myself playing jazz and/or contradance bass, and though I've done some of both, my main gig now is playing with banjoist, singer, storyteller, and 4-time grammy winner David Holt . With David I've gotten to experience playing larger venues, where people are actually listening, like MerleFest and the Florida Folk Festival. Another important piece of my musical life is the Swannanoa Gathering , a music camp which takes place every summer on the campus of Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, NC. This is truly a magical time of meeting new friends and sharing musical ideas for hours on end. At the Gathering, I've had the privilege to jam or perform with many of my heroes including Elise Witt , Eric Byrd , Mick Kinney, Andy Stein , Matt Glaser, , Pat Donohue , Mike Dowling , and others too numerous to mention. ----------

With "The Cats," Swannanoa Gathering 2007

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My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 12/09/2006
Band Members: The Lightning Bolts
David Holt , David Cohen , Josh Goforth , Laura Boosinger

The Goosebone Prophets
Laura Lengnick, Roger Gold

Stormy Weather
Steve Becker, David Fry

Eliza Lynn Band
Sean Foley, Mike Rhodes, Will Straughan

The Blue Ridge Orchestra
Too numerous to mention
Influences: Ray Brown, James Brown, Ray Charles, Charles Mingus, Dennis Crouch, Oscar the Grouch, Charlie Christian, Christian McBride, Willie Nelson, Nelson Mandela, Roger Spencer, Lori Mechem, Charlie Chadwick, Beatles, Stones, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, Wallace Beery, Timothy Leary, Edgar Meyer, Edgar Allen Poe, Jimmy Blanton, Jimi Hendrix... and of course MY MOM.
Sounds Like: 1 - 5 - 1 - 5 - 1 - 5.....
Type of Label: Major

My Blog

About these tunes

4th of July Waltz - written by me. Recorded at Jim Roberts' Kalimba Studio in Nashville in 2001.  Jeff Hersk - guitar & bass  Gretchen Priest - fiddle  Brian Christianson - fiddle  Al Goll - dobro  ...
Posted by on Sat, 28 Jun 2008 18:42:00 GMT

Check out Polecat Creek!

I recently had the honor and privilege of playing bass on Polecat Creek's latest CD "Ordinary Seasons." The CD is now out and I humbly have to say that it sounds great. When these gals sing together, ...
Posted by on Mon, 06 Aug 2007 07:29:00 GMT

What People Say

Not one to blow my own horn (I'll gladly pluck my own strings), I include some nice things people have said about my playing:"It is a true delight to be accompanied by Jeff Hersk on bass.  I...
Posted by on Tue, 26 Sep 2006 07:02:00 GMT