Jesse Henry is on an adventure to make, play, partake in the creation of good ol' music.

His start began in Bluffton, Ohio, a
cultural melting pot of Mennonites, Midwestern families and farmers. It was during the fruitful years of the late 80's and early 90's when N.W.A. and Guns n'Roses were establishing residence in many small towns across the nation that Jesse began playing the saxophone, piano and guitar.

Bluffton was not exactly
swingin', and Jesse had yet to experience music which had somehow escaped the dial of NW Ohio radio programming. Jesse left Bluffton after high school to attend
Capital University in Columbus, Ohio on a jazz saxophone scholarship.

Moving from a small town to the city was quite a change. Besides the obvious differences, the most important change was the music
scene. Both in and out of the college setting there were people making and listening to music like he had
never heard before. Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Mingus, Monk, Johnny Griffin, Count, Duke, Billie,
Nina Simone and all the amazing talent within Columbus. Where did all these people come from and how
did they craft this music? While finding the answers to these questions Jesse played in big band and small jazz combos and began his own practice and listening routines. He also played baritone sax in The Spectre, a Jamaican Ska band.


So Jazz was it, the attractions came from the limitless restraints on melody and harmony, and the
instantaneous creation of music streaming from improvisation. Another art form that Jesse found
while entering the jazz world was Beat Poetry and Literature and its predecessor Langston Hughes. These
writers pushed language and social thought and norms with the same intensity and freedom that Roland Kirk played flute.

While reading of the experiences of these writers and their travels in America and abroad,
Jesse began thinking of going on the road to seek his own adventure. This trip landed him in Portland, OR
for a stint as a dock worker on the Columbia River, while at the same time combing the Portland scene for
its offerings.

After six months he left for Ohio to work as a Millwright, a traveling ironworker. In the spring of 1999 an opportunity arose for Jesse to leave behind grain elevator basements, cargo ship yards, steel mills and factories and go back to college. This time college would be in North Newton, Kansas. A small liberal arts Mennonite school named Bethel College awaited Jesse's flair. It was here Jesse was introduced to a wide range of old-time and acoustic music. A few folks out there had been honing their skills to the likes of The Carter Family, Bill Monroe, The New Lost City Ramblers, Mississippi John
Hurt and Woody Guthrie.

After a few months at Bethel, Jesse and some friends formed a 7-piece honky tonk band playing honky tonk, called the Honky Tonk. The only thing missing was a honky tonk. The dorm rooms were soon transformed from rap and techno booms coming from stereos, to the live boom-chunk funk of a sting band rehearsing whiskey hollering drunk tongue generic cig smokin' vanity voice rompin' 'chunes. We were guitar, mandolin, harmonica, snare drum, fiddle, wash tub bass, banjo, clarinet, jaw harp/hand-bone/spoon slappin'/washboard scrubbing/jug tootin' fools.

As the Honky Tonk morphed and members came and went,
Jesse still performed jazz. He played saxophone in Fatty Jenkins, an exploratory jam band, the Bethel
College jazz band and a small jazz ensemble called the MennoJazz All-Stars. This group played jazz standards and original compositions written by its members. Jesse had a raucus time during those three years at Bethel. His musical sense and knowledge had been expanding, and new ideas and outlets were emerging.

Jesse moved back to Columbus and began writing songs.
He soon started performing at open mics, meeting up with fellow pickers at Ruby Tuesday's and formed a 3-piece acoustic group, The pikedrivers, who have been playing together ever since. The Spikedrivers filled a country blues void in Columbus and began playing all over town. Three more members were added and presently it is a full bodied finger picking fiesta.

While playing and writing with the Spikedrivers, Jesse composed some tunes more suited for solo, duo and trio settings, so he gathered some friends together and recorded his first album. This album has a wide array of sounds and styles. Jesse feels an urgency to recreate the sounds of folk, jazz, brass band, old-time holler blues with today's day and age as his canvas.

So please enjoy life and music, the beauty and difficulty that we are blessed to come face to face with at every moment.

Laugh, love, and listen.

Pura vida!