Jake Workman is a flatpicker from Utah who played lead guitar for Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder for nine years, from 2015 to 2024. He won IBMA Guitar Player of the Year in 2020 and the IBMA Momentum Instrumentalist award in 2016. He holds a jazz guitar degree, and he has won contest titles on guitar, banjo, and mandolin.
Why Workman matters
Workman showed that clean, fast bluegrass guitar can come from anywhere. He grew up far from the Southeast, learned at Western jams and festivals, and earned the guitar chair in a band that won IBMA Instrumental Group of the Year eight times. His solos hold their tone at speeds where most players get sloppy. For a jammer, he is proof that speed comes from control, not from pushing harder.
Life and career
Workman grew up in Draper, Utah, near Salt Lake City. He got his first guitar at age 13 in 2001 and practiced for hours each day, starting with classic rock. His parents gave him a banjo that Christmas, and the banjo pulled him into bluegrass. He found local pickers at the Rocky Mountain Pizza jam and went to Western festivals like Wintergrass. In high school he played in a rock band called Wayward Son.
He entered instrument contests across the West and won titles on guitar, banjo, and mandolin. In 2010 he won the Texas flatpicking championship. He earned a degree in jazz guitar performance from the University of Utah. He played in the bands Cold Creek, the Aaron Ashton Band, and Driven, where he met fiddler and singer Rebekah Workman, who became his wife and bandmate. Together they led the Jake and Rebekah Workman Band. Flatpicking Guitar Magazine put him on its cover in May 2015.
In November 2015 Ricky Skaggs hired him to replace Cody Kilby in Kentucky Thunder. Both Kilby and Bryan Sutton, two earlier Kentucky Thunder guitarists, recommended him. He made his debut with the band at the Grand Ole Opry. He won the IBMA Momentum Instrumentalist of the Year award in 2016 and IBMA Guitar Player of the Year in 2020.
In 2019 he released Landmark, an all-instrumental album with Sierra Hull, Stuart Duncan, Russ Carson, Jeff Picker, and guests including Skaggs. During the 2020 shutdown he moved his teaching online and began selling tab books, including 20 Flatpick Standards, Vol. 2 in 2023. He played his last show with Skaggs on November 21, 2024, in Chicago, and returned to Utah to teach, record, and play shows on his own.
Playing style
Workman’s sound is speed with every note intact. He holds the pick in a closed fist rather than with the fingers spread, which cuts the effort each note takes. His left hand uses all four fingers on runs, with the arch of a classical player. He plays Blue Chip picks.
He talks about “calibration” before a show: checking his pick grip, arm position, and shoulder tension, then warming up slow instead of shredding. He builds solos from memorized templates so they hold up night after night, and he improvises when the moment allows. He has a jazz guitar degree and a rock background, but he says traditional bluegrass shaped him most.
Influences and legacy
Workman learned bluegrass from Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder records, and Cody Kilby was the guitarist he studied. He took the same chair Kilby and Bryan Sutton held before him. Nine years with Skaggs taught him how rhythm guitar drives a band.
His reach now runs through teaching. His instructional videos built a large online following, and his tab books put contest standards like Bill Cheatham and Wildwood Flower in the hands of learners. He teaches guitar, mandolin, and banjo in private lessons and workshops.
Signature tunes and songs
St. Anne’s Reel Old Joe Clark Dixie Hoedown Wheel Hoss Rebecca.
Essential recordings
Landmark (2019) 20 Flatpick Standards, Vol. 2, tab book with audio (2023)
Awards and honors
Texas Flatpicking Champion (2010) Flatpicking Guitar Magazine cover artist (2015) IBMA Momentum Award, Instrumentalist of the Year (2016) IBMA Guitar Player of the Year (2020)
Watch and listen
Workman plays St. Anne’s Reel and Old Joe Clark as the 2010 Texas flatpicking champion. Watch his closed pick grip and how still his right hand stays.
Workman picks at the Collings booth at NAMM. Listen for the clarity of each note at full speed.
What to learn from Workman
Learn Old Joe Clark the way he plays it in the 2010 contest video. It is a tune every jam knows, and his version adds runs without losing the melody. The technique to steal is his warm-up. Before a jam, play one scale slow with a metronome and check three things: pick grip, arm position, and shoulder tension. Then raise the tempo in small steps. Workman’s speed comes from that habit, not from a special trick. If a note gets fuzzy, drop the tempo until it cleans up.
Sources
Jake Workman, IBMA award recipients Guitar Player of the Year archives, IBMA Bio, Jake Workman official site Meet Kentucky Thunder’s newest member, Jake Workman, Ricky Skaggs Jake Workman leaving Ricky Skaggs, Bluegrass Today Landmark, Jake Workman, Bluegrass Today Jake Workman releases 20 Flatpick Standards, Vol. 2, Bluegrass Today Guitar Player of the Year, Jake Workman, Americana Music Magazine Jake Workman, fastest flatpick in the West, Acoustic Guitar Videos
Related players
See the guitar players hub and the guitar guide for more flatpickers. Workman followed Cody Kilby and Bryan Sutton in the Kentucky Thunder guitar chair. Clay Hess held that job in the early 2000s. For another contest-trained flatpicker, see Molly Tuttle.