Jim Hurst is a bluegrass guitarist and singer from Middlesboro, Kentucky. He won IBMA Guitar Player of the Year in 2001 and 2002 while playing in a duo with bassist Missy Raines. He spent years in the bands of Holly Dunn, Trisha Yearwood, and Claire Lynch before he started a solo career in 2010. His picking mixes bluegrass flatpicking with the fingerstyle of Merle Travis, Chet Atkins, and Jerry Reed.
Why Hurst matters
Most bluegrass guitarists pick one lane: flatpick or fingers. Hurst plays both, and he switches between them in the same tune. That gives a solo guitarist a full band sound with bass, chords, and melody at once. For a picker who wants to play alone at a house concert or a campfire, Hurst is the model. He shows how fiddle tunes, country ballads, and blues grooves can live on one guitar.
Life and career
Hurst was born in Middlesboro, Kentucky, into a musical family. His father played guitar, mandolin, banjo, and fiddle, and the family jammed at home. Hurst learned guitar in those sessions as a child. Before he played music for a living he drove a long-haul truck in Ohio.
He moved to Nashville in 1988. In 1990 he joined Holly Dunn’s band, and in 1992 he added electric guitar work on tour with Trisha Yearwood. He played acoustic guitar and sang on Sara Evans’s 1998 RCA album No Place That Far.
Hurst joined Claire Lynch and the Front Porch String Band in 1995. There he met Missy Raines, and the two formed a duo. Their album Two came out on Pinecastle in 2000, followed by Synergy in 2003. During those years Hurst won IBMA Guitar Player of the Year twice, in 2001 and 2002. He rejoined Claire Lynch’s band from 2005 to 2010 and again in 2015.
His first solo album, Open Window, came out in 1998. Second Son followed on Pinecastle in 2001. He went full-time solo in 2010 and has since released Intrepid (2012), Looking Glass (2014), and records with the Jim Hurst Trio. He teaches at camps and workshops across North America and Europe.
Playing style
Hurst’s early models were flatpickers: Tony Rice, George Shuffler, Doc Watson, and Clarence White. Then he heard Merle Travis, Chet Atkins, and Jerry Reed. He calls their fingerstyle work “a turn in the road.” He built a style that uses both.
The result is a sound you can spot fast. His thumb keeps a bass line going while his fingers pick melody and chord tones. On a fiddle tune he can flatpick a break, then drop into fingerstyle for the next chorus. His timing stays even through the switch. He plays with a clean tone and rests notes in place instead of rushing them. Gallagher Guitar built a Jim Hurst Signature model for him.
Influences and legacy
Hurst learned in family jams and from records by Rice, Shuffler, Watson, and White. Travis, Atkins, and Reed shaped his right hand. He has played beside Claire Lynch, Missy Raines, Rob Ickes, and Tim Stafford, and he has recorded with David Grisman.
His teaching reaches a lot of pickers. He works camps and workshops each year and hosts the Gallagher Guitar Owners Club online. He co-wrote a song that reached number one on a traditional bluegrass song chart in March 2020.
Signature tunes and songs
Let the Guitar Play Kentucky Sunrise Waltz Forked Deer.
Essential recordings
Open Window (1998) Two, with Missy Raines (Pinecastle, 2000) Second Son (Pinecastle, 2001) Synergy, with Missy Raines (Pinecastle, 2003) Intrepid (2012)
Awards and honors
IBMA Guitar Player of the Year (2001, 2002) IBMA Guitar Player of the Year nomination (2015)
Watch and listen
Hurst plays his tune Let the Guitar Play alone on Red Barn Radio. Watch how the thumb and fingers split the work.
Hurst and Tim Stafford trade breaks on Forked Deer. Compare Hurst’s fingerstyle chorus with Stafford’s flatpicked one.
What to learn from Hurst
Learn Forked Deer the way Hurst plays it in the video above. The A part is a standard flatpicked melody. The B part is where you can try his trick. The technique to steal is the thumb bass line under a picked melody. Start with a slow tune in G. Keep the thumb on the root and fifth on beats one and three. Pick the melody with your index and middle fingers. When that feels steady, try switching from flatpick to fingers at the top of a chorus. It takes weeks, not days, but it doubles what one guitar can do at a jam.
Sources
Jim Hurst, IBMA award recipients Jim Hurst, Bio Jim Hurst, Wikipedia Jim Hurst, Guitar, Acoustic Music Camp Jim Hurst, Flatpik Jim Hurst to give bluegrass history lesson and concert at the library, Wyoming Tribune Eagle Featured Artist: Jim Hurst, Gallagher Guitar
Related players
See the guitar players hub and the guitar guide for more flatpickers. Hurst learned from Tony Rice, Doc Watson, and George Shuffler. He has picked with Tim Stafford. Norman Blake is another player who moves between flatpick and fingers.