Jay Lapp

Growing up in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and in northwest Indiana, Jay Lapp was surrounded by the four-part harmony of Mennonite hymns as well as music from his parents’ eclectic record collection: the Beach Boys to Doc Watson, chamber music to Creedence Clearwater Revival,   The Mama’s and Papa’s to the “Blues Brothers” movie soundtrack. After a brief stint in the horn section of his junior high band, Jay picked up his first stringed instrument when he traded a BB gun for a friend’s old electric guitar. His mother taught him basic chords.

After high school, Jay worked at T.G. Music (Goshen, Ind.), where he learned from storeowner, friend and mentor Tim Robie about the retail music business as well as instrument repair and sound system design. In 2000, Jay began studying guitar and mandolin with teachers at Old Town School of Folk Music (Chicago, Ill.).

In 2001, Jay started building a recording studio as a grassroots approach to music recording and producing. He has recorded albums and EPs for numerous musicians and groups, encompassing a broad range of styles, and has composed and recorded original music for several independent films and theater productions. One of the songs he recorded and performed with a band he co-founded, Goldmine Pickers, was featured in a television and radio commercial for Nissan-Europe in 2006. Goldmine Pickers has released two albums, an eponymous CD that came out in 2004, and 2007’s “Lonesome Gone”; Jay wrote numerous songs on each recording.

A full-time musician, Jay currently performs with Goldmine Pickers and East Coast-based musician Trent Wagler and the Steel Wheels, for which he has produced and co-produced three albums. He joins numerous solo artists and bands for special projects and events, and has taught mandolin and guitar lessons. He now lives in Ann Arbor, Mich., with his wife, Jessica, and their dog, Bean.