For Thomm Jutz, living and making music in Nashville,
Tennessee has always seemed like the most natural thing in the world. The emerging
producer/engineer/guitarist/songwriter had made up his mind by the time he was
a 12-year-old guitar student that he was absolutely headed for Music City, USA.
The fact the he grew up in a "tiny village" in the south of Germany
was never an obstacle for Jutz, who has turned it all to his creative advantage,
bringing a uniquely musical perspective and a classical discipline to the music
he makes and to every project he produces. These days, he splits his time between
TJ Tunes, his busy Nashville recording studio, and regular tours as guitarist
for Folkabilly Queen Nanci Griffith. Other artists Jutz has played and/or recorded
with include David Olney, Steve Young, Mary Gauthier and Michael Johnson.
Growing up the son of the local teacher and church choir
director, Jutz was reading music before he could read books. From there, it
was the piano and the flute, where he rose as a youngster to competition level.
But his musical education began in earnest the day he discovered the Canadian
Forces and American Forces Networks, both broadcasting a wide variety of real
country music to surrounding military bases. With his guitar always in hand,
Jutz absorbed all of it - every song and every guitar lick on the fly - long before he ever knew what the singer was actually singing about.
By the age of 15, he was leading local bands through endless gigs at those same
military bases.
He was living a double life - studying classical
guitar at university during the day and playing in smoky clubs into the night
- when he first heard the music of Townes Van Zandt. The discovery was
a creative turning point for Jutz. With a growing resume of prestigious gigs
and production successes in his home country, Jutz made the move to Nashville
in 2003, and he hasn't stopped since. Working with many of the musicians, writers
and artists he grew up listening to, he retains that ability to hear through
to the heart of a song. With an unerring ear, a guitarist's touch and a songwriter's
soul, Thomm Jutz is right where he belongs.
