His songs have been recorded by Nanci Griffith, John Prine, Kim Richey, Junior Sisk, Kenny and Amanda Smith, Balsam Range, Buddy Melton, Milan Miller and Terry Baucom.[3]
Jutz co-wrote the top two singles of 2016 listed on the Bluegrass Today Airplay chart.
Jutz signed with Mountain Home Music Company in 2019. New albums "To Live in Two Worlds – Vol 1 & 2" were released in 2020. Singles "Mill Town Blues", "I Long to Hear Them Testify", "Hartford's Bend" and "Jimmie Rodgers Rode a Train" were released in 2019. He also signed as a writer with Asheville Music Publishing in 2018.[4] "To Live In Two Worlds, Vol 1" was nominated for a 2021 Grammy Award in the Bluegrass category.[5]
Jutz originates from Neusatz, Buehl, Baden-Württemberg in the Black Forest of Germany and started playing music at the age of six, initially learning piano and flute.
In 1981 at age 11 he saw country artist Bobby Bare on a German television program performing Detroit City and, inspired by the way Bare stood and held his guitar, took up the guitar and developed an interest in Country, Bluegrass and Folk Music.[7]
Jutz won several nationwide competitions as a teenager before studying classical guitar at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart under professor Dr. Mario Sicca. Jutz played throughout Central Europe with Blues and Rock Bands, and began studying songwriting and studio engineering.
Career
In 2003, Jutz was granted a Diversity Immigrant Visa into the USA and moved his base to Nashville, where he immediately found favor and started touring worldwide with David Olney, Mary Gauthier and Nanci Griffith.
Jutz then set up as owner and operator of TJ Tunes, the studio he created for writers, players and artists from different places and genres to come together in a relaxed, rural setting, to write and record. He has produced over 70 albums to date.
The 1861 Project
Between 2011 and 2014, Jutz produced and wrote songs for the three volumes of The 1861 Project, a collection of new songs inspired by the people who fought and lived through the American Civil War.
During 2016, Jutz, together with Peter Cooper and 91-year-old country music legend Mac Wiseman, spent nine Sunday afternoons at Wiseman's house writing material based on the stories Wiseman would tell of his life.[9]
The resulting album, “Nothing But Green Willow”, features, from the UK/Ireland, Cara Dillon, Fay Hield, Seth Lakeman, Angeline Morrison and Emily Portman and from the U.S. Dale Ann Bradley, Sierra Hull, Justin Moses, Tim O’Brien, Tammy Rogers and Odessa Settles. It was released on September 29th, 2023 on Topic Records.[11] Ted Olson's liner notes were nominated for Liner Notes of the Year in the IBMA 2024 industry awards.[12]
Discography
Solo albums
To Live in Two Worlds, Vol 1 & 2 (Mountain Home, 2020)[13]
IBMA 2023 International Bluegrass Music Awards – nomination for Songwriter of the Year [28]
IBMA 2022 International Bluegrass Music Awards – nomination for Song of the Year: Riding The Chief[29]
IBMA 2021 International Bluegrass Music Awards – Winner, Songwriter of the Year [30]
Grammy Awards 2021 – nomination in Bluegrass category for To Live in Two Worlds, Vol. 1
IBMA 2019 International Bluegrass Music Awards – nomination for Songwriter of the Year [31]
IBMA 2018 International Bluegrass Music Awards – nomination for Songwriter of the Year [32]
IBMA 2017 International Bluegrass Music Awards – 4 nominations (as writer and producer in Song of the Year category, and as artist and producer in Recorded Event of the Year category)[33]
SESAC 2013 Nashville Music Awards for contributions to the album Thorn In My Heart recorded by Kim Richey[34]
SESAC 2009 Americana Performance Activity Award (with Charley Stefl) for contribution to the album The Loving Kind recorded by Nanci Griffith[35]
Member of IBMALeadership Bluegrass class of 2015[36]
Member of Nashville's Leadership Music class of 2013[37]
