Growing up in the small south Australian town of Quorn, Jedd was first given the gift of country music by his father, who loved the sounds of Australian traditional country singer Slim Dusty, and American icons such as Johnny Cash and Marty Robbins.
"My dad had lots of records," Jedd recalls. "I remember listening to Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues' and I Walk The Line.' The first guitar solos I ever heard were Luther Perkins', and for some reason that got me excited. I guess that's what got me into guitar playing. And then Marty Robbins' Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs - it was a reddish/pink cover with Marty dressed in black on the front. Music was always exciting to me. I used to run around the house freaking out because it affected me."
When he wasn't listening to music at home, much of Jedd's childhood was spent onstage. At age eight, he won first place at the Port Pirie Country Music Festival. One year later, Jedd's dad gave him a few guitar lessons, and by age 10 he was playing a custom-made De Gruchy acoustic guitar.
At 12, Jedd was chosen to represent Australia on a three-week tour of Europe, performing at the International Music For Youth festivals held in France, Belgium and Sweden. "My parents knew I was into music, but they didn't really know how far I would take it," says Jedd. "After that tour happened, I think they figured I was pretty serious about it."
Jedd's early teens involved practicing guitar for hours - and waiting for his voice to change. "I played guitar for three years without really singing much, until I was 16 or 17," he says. "I really concentrated on playing the electric guitar, and I worked on the acoustic guitar, too.
"I practiced at least three hours a day, and on school holidays I would practice eight or nine hours a day, I just wanted to be good. I wanted different tones and different sounds."
One night on the radio, Jedd heard the Ricky Skaggs song "Country Boy" and was hooked on Skaggs' rapid-fire blend of country and bluegrass. "That was the fastest music I'd ever heard," he recalls. "It was pretty mind-boggling. Then I started listening to Vince Gill, because my mom was completely in love with him - and still is! I always thought his guitar solo on `Liza Jane ' was amazing."
Through a friend who was a bluegrass mandolin champion, Kym Warner, Jedd was introduced to some of the greats of bluegrass music. He heard the sounds of Tony Rice, Del McCoury and Ralph Stanley, and was taken with the music's purity. He was also drawn to country legends like Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. "The only new music I had access to was popular music, and it didn't interest me," he admits. "I found early country music and bluegrass more interesting, so that's about all I listened to until I was 18."
Jedd traveled throughout his teenage years, performing as a sideman with various country entertainers. After high school he had one goal - to attend South Plains College in Levelland, Texas, which offers a bluegrass music program. The experience was life-changing. "For starters," he explains, "I had serious singing lessons for the first time in my life, which helped me a lot. I learned confidence in my playing and singing, and just more confidence as a human being. I mean, moving from one country to another on your own and having to get by without certain people sometimes makes you a stronger person. Looking back, it was a big step, but at the time was something I had to do. There was no option - I had to come to America."
On a visit home between semesters, Jedd had another life-altering experience - he heard the music of country rocker Buddy Miller. "A friend of mine brought around this record of his called Poison Love," says Jedd. "I heard that record, and Buddy's guitar playing and singing completely changed my whole outlook on what country music could be. I could hear all of this other stuff that had filtered through that I didn't understand because I hadn't really listened to rock and roll or anything else. But it became such a big influence."
Attending South Plains College proved to be more than a confidence-builder - it also led to Jedd's meeting with the man who'd soon be his producer, Terry McBride. Terry, who'd enjoyed much success with his trio McBride and the Ride, did a workshop at the college. Later at a student showcase, he noticed there was something different about the young guitarist who was expertly picking a tribute to Chet Atkins and Roy Nichols on his guitar and singing a Buddy Miller song with soul beyond his years. He talked with Jedd after the show and offered to write with him if he ever made the move to Nashville.
Soon after, Jedd called Music City home and the pair began writing. "We probably wrote over 80 songs between April 2002 and March 2003," notes Jedd.
Since his move to Nashville, Jedd has earned the respect of Nashville's elite. His list of admirers is long - and reads like a "Who's Who" of country music. The songwriter and accomplished guitar player is beloved by such respected artists as Patty Loveless, Rodney Crowell, Alison Krauss and Guy Clark.
If fact, just six weeks after landing in Music City, Jedd auditioned to be the lead guitarist for Patty Loveless. "Billy Thomas, who'd played with Patty on and off through the years, heard that Patty was looking for a new acoustic player and singer to do the Down From the Mountain tour. I was already a fan of her music, so I went and auditioned - and physically shook the whole time," he recalls, laughing. "I walked out of that audition thinking, `There is no way I'm going to get this gig because I just made a complete idiot of myself.'"
Yet only one hour later, Jedd was asked to join Patty's rehearsal - and then he was invited to play the Grand Ole Opry the next night. "So I did, and the day after that I was playing at MerleFest, with Tony Rice standing on the side of the stage! It all happened so quickly and I feel so lucky that it all worked out like that."
Playing with one of country's most talented and respected singers taught Jedd valuable lessons. "There's an advantage to being onstage and being a sideman for awhile," he says. "You get to closely observe how people react to the music, because they're not staring at you the whole time. With Patty, I learned that consistency is possible. Not only with singing, but with the show. Every show is the same, whether it's a small or huge crowd. She always gets out there and rocks every night."
During his days off from playing with Patty, Jedd was busy in the studio with Terry, cutting demos which they eventually took to Executive VP of A&R David Conrad at MCA in December 2002. "We only had five songs finished," remembers Jedd, "but we left the music with David and I went home for the holidays. While I was at home I got an e-mail from Terry saying, `You've been offered a record deal on MCA Records!' My mom was crying and my dad and I were freaking out. It's still very surreal, just thinking about the whole scenario."
TRANSCONTINENTAL is a blend of the traditional sounds Jedd loved from his childhood and the rocking country he's absorbed as an ever-evolving artist. The album kicks off with the up tempo Beatlesque tune "I'm Your Man" then quickly switches gears to the mellow sound of "I'll Keep Movin'" which demonstrates Jedd's versatility as an artist.
Tracks like "High Lonesome," a rolling train of honky-tonk would make Buck Owens proud. He continues rocking with the roadhouse grit of "I Don't Have A Clue," "Snake In the Grass" and "Damn! You Feel Good."
"Time To Say Goodnight (Sweet Dreams Baby)" and "The Only Girl In Town" (with guest harmonies by Alison Krauss) are sung with a soulful yearning guaranteed to melt the hardest hearts. Jedd's former "boss," Patty Loveless , puts her golden touch on the beautiful, melancholy "Soldier For The Lonely." The album ends fittingly with a cover of country rock legend Gram Parsons' "Luxury Liner."
Jedd hopes his blend of roots-based country will appeal to a wide range of music fans. "I want to get this record to as many people as I can," he declares. "I hope I've made some music that will get inside somebody else and make them feel something.
"Country music still excites me like I'm four years old," he adds. "There have always been so many possibilities with country. Cash was doing what he was doing, and Merle was doing his own thing, too. There were all these different country artists, but it was always still country music. And country music is still cool."
