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Jay Clark & the Tennessee Tree Beavers

Jay Clark has his roots well grounded in the East Tennessee region. Originally from Winchester, TN, and currently residing on 31.5 acres in Rockford, TN, Jay considers Knoxville and the surrounding mountains his adopted home.

Jay began playing guitar and writing songs during his high school years and has been actively involved in songwriting and performing ever since. After leaving Winchester to attend Maryville College in 1992, Jay spent the summers of 1993 and 1994 performing at Dollywood and various bluegrass festivals with Keith Garrett (The Boxcars, Blue Moon Rising) in a traditional bluegrass brother-style duet. In 1995, Jay transferred to the University of Tennessee and met Robinella (www.robinella.com). They started singing together at churches and gradually put together a traditional bluegrass band, The Stringbeans, with the help of Cruz Contreras (The Black Lillies, CC Stringband). The Stringbeans played around the Knoxville area from 1997 to 1999 and were voted the "Best Bluegrass Group" in 1999 by the Readers Poll of Knoxville's alternative weekly, the Metropulse.

After completing a Masters degree in Wildlife Science at the University of Tennessee in 1999, Jay moved to Stillwater, OK, to pursue a PhD in Wildlife Ecology at Oklahoma State University. While in Oklahoma, he continued songwriting and would occasionally return to Knoxville to perform with Robinella and the CC Stringband. In 2003, Jay moved back to Knoxville after completing his PhD and began performing his original songs at venues in the East Tennessee region. He has since released three albums (see Discography), contributed to Robinella's Solace for the Lonely (2006) as a songwriter and background vocalist, and toured the Southeast performing 70-80 shows per year.