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Jason Thomas is a fiddler, mandolin player, singer, producer, and engineer. He was born in North Bay, Ontario, Canada, and started on mandolin at the age of eight, learning from his dad, Bob Thomas, and playing bluegrass and gospel music with his family band in southern Ontario. He started to study violin at age twelve, having private violin lessons for just one year, and then he continued to study a variety of fiddle styles, largely self-taught. During high school, he also picked up guitar, banjo, bass, and viola, and also started his own band. Jason has won a few contests, including winning the Canadian Open Mandolin Championship, and twice winning the Florida State Championship on both fiddle and mandolin. He studied violin and Music Education at Evangel College in Springfield, MO. Since college, he has been a full-time professional musician, having toured extensively across the country and overseas. He has made his home in Central Florida since 1984, where he has primarily made his living playing in many bands at the major attractions and hotels in the area. He enjoys a wide variety of musical styles, from bluegrass to blues, Celtic to country, gypsy jazz to folk/Americana, Cajun to Western Swing, and more. Always the "team player," he strives to provide tasteful and supportive back-up and solos, which has enabled him to work with some incredibly talented singers and bands. Jason is honored to play with Grammy nominated artist Claire Lynch in the Claire Lynch Band, along with multiple award winning musicians Jim Hurst and Mark Schatz. He appears on Claire's newest Rounder release "Whatcha Gonna Do", as well her previous release "Crowd Favorites", playing both fiddle and mandolin. Crowd Favorites charted in the top ten, both as a single (The Day That Lester Died) and as an album in Bluegrass Unlimited magazine. Check out Claire's website at www.clairelynch.com. Jason does frequent studio work in Orlando, and has been featured on many recordings and on national television. He has recorded three projects with the Montana based band Kane's River (www.kanesriver.com), who charted two singles, one of them climbing to number 6 in Bluegrass Unlimited magazine, as well as staying on the charts for a year. He was a featured fiddler on the album Clawgrass by IMBA nominee Mark Johnson, along with Tony Rice and the Rice Brothers. He was featured on the cut "Upstream" on Ben Winship's and David Thompson's "Fishing Music" CD project, along with David Grier, Matt Flinner, and Rob Ickes. Jason has been seen performing or sitting in with many other notable musicians, singers and songwriters, such as Vassar Clements, Sam Bush, Tim O'Brien, Mollie O'Brien, Jesse Winchester, Jonathan Edwards, Jimmy Ibbotson, Byron Berline, Aubrey Haynie, Bryan Sutton, Alan Bibey, Dave Talbot, Dennis Crouch, Rob Ickes, Mike Auldridge, The Infamous Stringdusters, Blue Highway, Darol Anger, Casey Dreissen, Gabe Witcher, Scott Vestal, Mike Marshall, Byron House, Missy Raines, Larry Cordle, Bill Evans, Mike Dowling, Mitch Corbin, Open Road, The Growling Old Men, and Tammerlin, among others. Jason can be seen gigging locally with several other bands - check these out:
Gatorbone:www.gatorbone.com and click on VTW,
Off Kilter: www.offkilter.net,
Showdown: www.showdownorlando.com,
Under The Radar: www.undertheradar-band.com,
The Scott Anderson Band: www.scottandersonmusic.com,
Catahoula Blue: www.bethmckee.com,
The Porchdogs: www.theporchdogs.com,
The Rodeo Rhythm Kings: www.rodeorhythmkings.com,
Dave Durham & the Bull Durham Band,
Gypsy Wind: www.gypsywindband.com,
US1,
Handpicked,
Rusty Cutlass: www.rustycutlass.net,
Stevedores,
The Notorious Banjo Brothers
When he's not playing, Jason loves spending time with his family - his wife, Beth and their son Jacob (5 years old). He also loves to do part-time graphic design, learning from his wife Beth, who is a multiple award-winning designer, having designed CD covers for Dan Tyminski, The Lonesome River Band, Mountain Heart, Ricky Simpkins, and more. Jason won a design award himself in 2003 from Graphic Design USA magazine for his design of the CD cover of the Kane's River project, "Same River Twice". Jason can also be seen here and there teaching fiddle or mandolin at some of the workshops and music camps around the country. In his non-existent spare time, Jason can be found tinkering with fiddles or working on the remodel of his recently purchased 1920's Craftsman home in the quaint downtown historic district of Winter Garden, Florida. Jason proudly endorses Elixir Strings and Fishman Transducers and is a Yamaha Performing Artist.
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