Jake Patty

Jake Patty began taking guitar lessons and singing at the age of nine. While initially enthusiastic, he soon became more interested in other activities, but he continued to practice five to ten minutes each day as suggested by his guitar instructor. Four years later, he knew the chords and lyrics to one song well enough to perform in public - but had no plans to do so. He was playing xylophone in the school band, and was honored to be selected as an all district band member, but he considered that type of public performance to be more than enough. The summer before entering seventh grade, he started taking piano lessons, feeling this would help him with note reading in band. After much urging, Jake was finally convinced to take the stage for the first time in a local talent contest in January of 2014. He admitted that he was extremely frightened during the performance, but also that he enjoyed the rush. He continued to enter the contest for practice as many times as he could. It was also during this time that Jake was first introduced to Bluegrass music, and he fell in love with it immediately. In April 2014, he received a mandolin as a gift. He quickly learned to play it as well as his guitar. At this point, he started playing his sister’s violin on occasion and sought performance coaching to become more comfortable on stage. When Jake wasn’t practicing, he was watching YouTube videos and trying to imitate his favorite musicians, including Bill Monroe, Tony Rice, Ricky Skaggs, Del McCoury, Josh Williams, The Country Gentlemen, Doc Watson, and Larry Sparks. He soon became enthralled with J.D. Crowe and all variations, forms, and products of The New South, leading him to imitate the vocal styles of the late Keith Whitley. In October 2014, Jake attended a Bluegrass festival for the very first time at Jerusalem Ridge in Rosine, Kentucky. He made many friends and was invited to play on stage with some of them. This made a lasting impression on Jake, and he began practicing and working even more diligently to improve his skills and learn more songs. Jake started banjo lessons one week after attending the festival. By January of 2015, Jake was no longer taking regular lessons from his previous guitar instructors, but he continued to play all the time on his own, and one suggestion led him to attend SPGBMA for the first time in February of 2015, where he had an absolute blast. The friendships he made there led Jake to ask his performance coach for an opportunity to put together a youth band that would open for The Gibson Brothers at their upcoming concert at the Kentucky Opry. After a successful night in April, the group was invited to play at other events, but everyone was on a different schedule. Jake continued taking advantage of performance opportunities, as well as making new contacts and friends in hopes of forming a new band that would remain together for an extended period of time. By now, Jake was attending as many festivals as he could. During his travels he was very fortunate and thankful to win a new mandolin at MACC. He was thrilled to make it to the Jerusalem Ridge Festival again in September 2015, where he invited other musicians to play open stage with him and was welcomed by the audience. Jake attended a portion of IBMA in October where he met another founding member of the current band. Jake Patty and Matthew Davis first played together one week later at a festival in Missouri, and that same evening Jake introduced Matt to Carson McKee. The three jammed together briefly and agreed to form a band. Jake’s contacts with Wyatt Harman (Bean Blossom, IN), Alex Donahue (Galax, VA) and Max Mobley (Columbus, OH), and Eddie Bruce Stubblefield helped him to get the band up and running. One year later, at SPGBMA 2016, Jake Patty presents Kentucky Drive.