BIO
An improviser at heart from the mountains of North Carolina, Jonah Horton blends his wide array of influences such as Joni Mitchell, Sam Bush, John McLaughlin, Jaco Pastorius, and Béla Fleck to create his signature sound that is easily recognizable whether he is playing mandolin or bass. As a sideman, he has worked with John Cowan (Newgrass Revival, The Doobie Brothers), The Krüger Brothers, Joseph Henson (US Army Blues), Charles Billingsly, and Scott Vestal (Sam Bush Band). His love for performance, when paired with his passion for creating a unique fusion of folk, jazz, bluegrass, and Americana, make him an exciting artist for any music lover to enjoy.
He began playing mandolin at the age of seven and immediately fell in love with music. He grew up attending bluegrass festivals and fiddler's conventions nearby his hometown of Wilkesboro, NC. During his childhood, he got the opportunity to perform with and learn from many established artists such as Sierra Hull, The Steep Canyon Rangers, Sam Bush, The Appalachian State University Big Band, The Krüger Brothers, and more. A particularly notable performance from his childhood was being selected by the International Bluegrass Music Association's (IBMA) Kids on Bluegrass program to perform at the La Roche Bluegrass Festival in the French Alps in 2015 at the age of 13.
As a teenager, Jonah was a founding member of The Trailblazers as a mandolinist (2016-2020). This group was a progressive bluegrass ensemble that went on to win two IBMA Momentum Awards, toured across the eastern US, and released two albums, the most recent of which, Space and Time, he produced and arranged.
In 2021, he graduated from Appalachian State University with a bachelor’s degree in marketing with a sales concentration, but he continued to pursue music full-time. That summer at age 19, he traveled to Nashville, TN to be the featured mandolinist on Scott Vestal's upcoming Bluegrass 2022 instrumental project which featured an all-star cast including Vestal (3x IBMA banjo player of the year), Cody Kilby (Ricky Skaggs, The Travelin' McCourrys, 1x IBMA Guitar Player of the year), Randy Khors (Grammy-winning resonator guitarist), Byron House (Nickel Creek, Dolly Parton), and Tim Crouch (Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks). Bluegrass 2022 received multiple IBMA nominations, including a second-round ballot appearance for Jonah for IBMA mandolin player of the year. In the fall of 2021, Jonah began attending Liberty University to study jazz, and bought his first electric bass that August.
With a quickly growing interest in jazz, funk, and R&B fueled by a summer of playing electric mandolin with The Eli Yacinthe Band, Jonah made the decision to study bass as his primary instrument while pursing his master’s degree. He quickly picked up the new genre and instrument and was honored to be the featured bassist on acclaimed jazz saxophonist Joesph Henson's (former Musical Director of the US Army Blues Big Band) 2022 release "A Thousand Words" after only playing bass for ten months. In 2023, he was the featured mandolinist on the Krüger Brothers' Doc Watson 100th Birthday Celebration which also featured Grammy-Award winning dobro player Jerry Douglas.
Jonah graduated in May of 2024 with a master’s degree in music performance and is plowing full-steam-ahead with his music career. Most recently, he appeared as the featured mandolinist on John Cowan's (The Doobie Brothers, Newgrass Revival) new album "Fiction". In the fall of 2024, Jonah got the opportunity to go on a three week tour of Switzerland as a featured artist with the Krüger Brothers and even got to perform two nights with the Swiss National Orchestra. Jonah currently plays with The Krüger Brothers full time, and additionally leads and participates in several side projects. He recorded a solo project in the summer of 2023 titled "Let in the Light" that was released in October of 2024. For more information on this project, see the "Let in the Light" tab on this website.