Jazz guitarist and alumnus Josh Beatty plays country music for a Nashville, Tennessee, crowd. He said his education in jazz made him a more versatile artist. Credit: Courtesy of Josh Beatty
Jazz and country are not two genres usually thought of together, but professional musician Josh Beatty has made the mix into a career.
At a young age, Beatty became passionate about pursuing a career in music, leading him to study jazz at Ohio State. Beatty said after graduating in 2018, he dove into country music when an opportunity came to play guitar in Nashville, Tennessee.
Beatty said his experience with jazz made him versatile when transitioning to new genres.
“If you can play jazz, you can play any style of music,” Beatty said. “I’ve grown a lot as a person, and I have learned so much as a musician as well. I feel grateful for the last five years now that I’ve been in Nashville. It’s been awesome.”
Kevin Turner, an assistant jazz guitar professor at Ohio State, said jazz has unique traits that make it different from other genres.
“It requires analytical skills and technique,” Turner said. “You have to improvise over chord changes or particular harmony with specific scales that correlate to each chord.”
Currently, Beatty studies jazz guitar and plays country music as a guitarist for artists, like Tyler Reese Tritt.
“What I learned in Ohio State was valuable in helping me transition into the country music world of Nashville,” Beatty said. “It’s just the location. If I’d stayed in Columbus, Ohio, I would probably be playing funk, R&B or something different.”
Beatty said his parents have been huge supporters since he was a kid. He said he started playing in his local church, Grace Polaris Church, when he was young.
Turner said Beatty has been a very mature artist ever since he started at Ohio State.
“He has a pristine sound on his guitar, he knows how to dial up different sounds and knows how to play with a lot of artistic and stylistic integrity, and he is a good singer, and I felt like that particular combination of musical skills would serve him well,” Turner said.
Beatty said his biggest goal is to play alongside his favorite artist Dave Matthews. Despite Nashville being known as a “10-year town” — meaning it takes a person 10 years to succeed in the city — Beatty said he achieved success while playing for other musicians within five years of living there.
“I feel so grateful to be able to say I’ve certainly moved quicker in less than 10 years,” Beatty said. “I’m so grateful. I hope to be touring in the next five or 10 years, playing bigger stages and getting to touch more people with my music with the sounds in my head and the voice God’s giving me.”
