Talking the talk and walking the walk are often something that artists are able to only do one of.  Alabama-born JP Harris, on the other hand, has not only a rugged song catalog, but the same rings true of his life.  While fans are all-too-familiar with the country and bluegrass obsession with trains over the years, this man breathes a different kind of life into it entirely.   While many artists craft lyrics about rambling lives and hard-earned truths from the comfort of a tour bus or a writing room in Nashville, Harris has the rare distinction of actually riding that train. Long before he ever stepped on a stage, JP was hitchhiking across the country, hopping freight trains, living without electricity, and learning carpentry by necessity. His life reads like a forgotten verse of an old folk ballad, and it’s that raw authenticity that pulses through every word he sings.

Real experiences, real life and real people are the building blocks of what we hear when we listen to Harris on a track and he is more that proud of being able to bring that to the recording studio to share with awaiting ears of fans far and wide:

"A multi-year love affair I had with them," says Harris of his days riding the rails.  

"The world at large, doesn't quite fathom the connections that are made

through living in unconventional ways. A lot of that network of friends from back then,

are people that I still stay in contact with and that I crash with when I'm the road." 

JP also talks about something else that keeps him real and raw in the music industry and that is the fans that he continues to see at his shows.  Former punk-rock road travelers he shared nights under stars with, Deadheads that have multiple generations in attendance, folks that show up not knowing what to expect and leave as fans that buy the t-shirt to wear proudly on the street.  Past lives that have been lived still show up with just as many changes as similarities:

"Being in a touring band and being travelers, there's a lasting bond.  

Some went on to become lawyers, some died - there are some that parlayed

 it into things like being full-time artists, or it lead them into community activism."

He’s not interested in chasing radio hits or industry trends. Instead, he’s content carving out a space far off the beaten path — sometimes literally. When he’s not on the road playing bars, venues and roots festivals, Harris lives off-grid in the woods, doing carpentry and letting the silence between projects shape the next song. This slower pace, far from the noise of the industry, allows him to write music that speaks to people instead of at them.  

In a genre often bloated with overproduced sound and underlived sentiment, JP Harris stands as a rare breed — a man who’s lived more lives than most songwriters could dream up, and who still keeps it real with every chord he strums.  Keeping the real in his songs, we joked, might also make him a good candidate for a politician, especially these days when the authentic is rare.  

"Vote for JP Harris - He's Shoveled Shit," would be the campaign slogan when I asked him what he might have on banners if he was to randomly choose running for Mayor.  And while some might think that a shocking way to get votes, in reality it's a nod to his authentic self and the lack of a facade that is put on by far too many, either pretending to be (or not be) who they truly are.  

Not to be mistaken or confused with anything other than what it is on the surface, Harris still has his occasional qualms about who he is and what he's doing as any musician and artist will, but his songs aren’t stylized stories about heartbreak and hardship — they’re pulled from real dirt, real distance, real people. Harris has slept under the stars with fellow travelers, worked his hands raw building homes, and spent time in communities that most songwriters only reference as an aesthetic. That lived-in truth comes through loud and clear in his records, despite him saying that something he still looks for that he lost is 'validation'.  

JP's latest album JP Harris is a Trash Fire (to which he was admittedly the one that lit the match) is out now and you can catch him this coming Wednesday at Jammin Java in Vienna, VA.  

To learn more about JP Harris, please see the following web resources:

• Webpage (ILoveHonkeyTonk.com)
• Facebook
• Instagram
• YouTube
• Spotify
• TIDAL
• Soundcloud