Jack Rose: An Old Soul Guitarist

Biographical Bytes from Bala #027

Jack Rose was an old soul guitarist who took John Fahey and other fingerpickers as role models.  Born in Virginia in 1971, Rose moved to Philadelphia in 1998, where he became part of the alternative music scene.  As he taught himself the primitive styles of Blind Blake, Charlie Patton, and others, he took on the name “Dr. Ragtime”. 

His album “Raag Manifesto” was named one of the top 50 records of the year by British music magazine “The Wire”.  Davendra Banhart included one of his songs in the compilation “Golden Apples of the Sun”.  His fourth recording, “Kensington Blues”, was his breakthrough and he toured extensively. 

Rose’s career was tragically cut short in 2009 when he died before his 39th birthday and just before the release of his 5th album “Luck in the Valley”.  He is interred in the Nature’s Sanctuary section of Laurel Hill West, one of our green burial spaces. 

But his music lives on.