J. D. Wilkes
| J.D. Wilkes | |
|---|---|
Wilkes in 2007
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| Background information | |
| Born |
April 18, 1972 Baytown, Texas, United States |
| Genres | Rockabilly, country blues, southern gothic |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, artist, filmmaker, author |
| Instruments | Vocals, harmonica, banjo |
| Labels | YepRoc, Alternative Tentacles, Bloodshot, Colonel Knowledge, Arkam, Thirty Tigers |
| Associated acts |
Legendary Shack Shakers The Dirt Daubers Reverend Horton Heat Hank Williams III The Dixiecrats |
Joshua "J. D." Wilkes (born April 18, 1972, Baytown, Texas, United States) is an American visual artist, musician, amateur filmmaker and author. He probably best known as the singer for experimental rockabilly group Legendary Shack Shakers, and is also an accomplished harmonica player, having recorded for such artists as Merle Haggard, John Carter Cash, Mike Patton, and Hank Williams III in the American Masters film "Hank Williams: Honky Tonk Blues". His song "Swampblood" can be heard on the Grammy-nominated soundtrack for HBO's True Blood series. Wilkes is a resident of Paducah, Kentucky and is the author of two books, The Vine That Ate The South and Barn Dances and Jamborees Across Kentucky.
Wilkes is known as the founder and only remaining original member of the Legendary Shack Shakers, a rockabilly/blues band he formed in Murray, Kentucky, in the mid 1990s. Before forming the band, Wilkes was a performer on the paddle wheeler Paducah Jubilee. He also played harmonica for the act "Popularity Showboat" at the Eddyville State Penitentiary.
Regarding the Shack Shaker's "southern gothic" lyricism, Billboard Magazine said "(Wilkes writes) mind-blowing lyrics rife with Biblical references and ruminations of life, death, sin and redemption."
Wilkes is a Kentucky Colonel.
Wilkes' contributions to the visual arts include many illustrations, comic strips, and sideshow banners. His satirical "Head Cheese" strip was seen in the Nashville RAGE/Metromix weekly from 2005 to 2008. Other illustrative works by Wilkes have been seen in Juxtapoz, Snicker, ALARM Magazine, and TopShelfComix.com. Wilkes illustrated the book "Spookiest Stories Ever" for the University Press of Kentucky, released in 2010.
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