Today we’d like to introduce you to Jonah Krull.
Hi Jonah, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
I was born and raised in Buffalo, New York to a very musical family. Although neither of my parents was a musician by trade, they had a deep love for music and some of my earliest memories are of them singing with my siblings and me or playing Billy Joel tapes in the car. I also had many extended family members who were musicians by trade, one of them owning a music store in my hometown where I began to learn various instruments. I was homeschooled so I had lots of time to invest in practicing my instruments, writing music, recording (really bad) songs, and hanging around my aunt’s music store.
As I reached high school I began to realize all I wanted to do was make music. I set my eyes on Nashville, but after weighing my options decided to go to a small school in Grand Rapids, Michigan. There, I studied guitar performance until I got the chance to attend a semester at the Contemporary Music Center in Brentwood, where I gained hands-on knowledge from industry pros about songwriting, performance, touring, and more.
After college, I moved back to Buffalo and hit the music scene there for almost 4 years. In that time, I released my debut EP “LoFi” as well as many other singles, did hundreds of shows with my band and my acoustic duo, tried my hand at a national DIY tour in 2019, and generally continued to hone my craft while I figured out my next move.
Just before the pandemic, my mental and physical health hit an all-time low, and I began suffering crippling panic attacks that eventually brought me to a point where I wasn’t even able to drive down my own street without having a full-blown panic attack. This plus the fact that the pandemic brought the music industry to a standstill made my life a living hell because I couldn’t even enjoy the one thing I’d based my life around. However, I eventually began to heal and so did the music industry, and after a year of working through my anxiety, I was finally able to live again. This difficult season inspired a new era in my life and created a drastic shift in the type of music I created and how I live my life.
I moved to Nashville in September 2021 after 4 years of being back in Buffalo to pursue the next stage of my career. I have since been playing lead guitar in town and on the road, recording both client work and my personal music projects, and teaching private music lessons at MusicLab Nashville. My latest venture has been the Line Check Podcast with my co-host Abby LaBianca, where we discuss the music industry and mental health in an effort to spread the importance of maintaining mental health in the music industry.
I still have a long way to go in my career but I am so happy to be in a town of creative, like-minded humans and doing what I love every day!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Smooth is the LAST word I would use to describe the road to where I am today. From high school to now, my life has had so many twists and turns I never knew where/how I would end up. I tried moving to Nashville on at least three separate occasions before I was finally able to, and my career has been filled with a laundry list of mistakes, failures, and disappointments. Singles that never took off, projects that never gained public interest, etc.
However, the biggest obstacle I’ve consistently faced has been myself. The fog of anxiety and stress has constantly been a battleground in my mind, and every day I wake up faced with doubts, distractions, and questioning if I’m even doing the right thing. The key is to find a way to bypass those lies and distractions, which is ultimately how we grow.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
As of now, I’d say my primary “work” is being a guitarist here in town. However, in general, I feel I am known for being a songwriter, producer, videographer, teacher, builder, tinkerer, etc. Just a general creative human!
I’m extremely proud of my work ethic and willingness to learn in any situation. For example, I am by no means the best lead guitarist, let alone in Nashville of all places. However, I found myself getting work within the first few weeks of moving here because I was able to learn a large number of songs and spend every day with the intent of improving my playing and not just coasting on what I already know.
In a similar answer, I’d say what sets me apart from others is my ability to learn almost anything, which I attribute to my time as a homeschooler. Lots of times (especially in high school when the subjects were too hard for my parents to teach me) I had to be able to teach myself whatever subject I was learning simply by using whatever resources I had, so I learned how to teach myself anything.
This means instead of relying on someone else to teach me something directly or just being clueless all the time, if I don’t know something, I have the ability to hop on the internet and learn enough about whatever it is to replicate it with enough practice.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I am EXTREMELY insecure about my original music! If I’m being honest, I have about eight or nine songs that are fully written, recorded, and almost ready to be released… but I haven’t dropped them because I am literally just scared that no one will listen to them. That might be surprising to hear as I talk constantly about learning to overcome our fears and insecurities, but I guess that is one I’m still working through.
Contact Info:
- Email: jonahkrullmusic@gmail.com
- Website: jonahkrullmusic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonahkrullmusic/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JonahKrullMusic/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/JonahKrullMusic
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7moE0byWmalTWxbpzqzK9w?si=5nEdydf3TpaAa5qR5T4lzQ
Image Credits
Tyler Miller, Griffeth Photography, and Gary Marvin Jr.
