Artist:Jesse Witney

Jesse was one of those kids you see on groovy parents' shoulders at festivals. His family has a strong musical pedigree, with both his parents being musicians and festival producers of the Imbil Folk festival for over 15 years. His older brother is currently a Chicago resident musician. Jesse started singing at an early age, with obvious talent. At 13 years he picked up a bass guitar and helped form the punk band, ‘Better than Britney', by 16 years old he was winning music competitions, including the “George Hoya Tribute Award’. After high school, he moved to Lismore to study guitar performance at SCU. One day the leading exponent of Brazilian guitar in Australia, Doug de Vries, gave a Brazilian music lecture, and “a light came on” for Jesse, who began to study Brazilian music with a passion. By 20 years old he had learned the language. By 21 years old was in Brazil, gigging as much as possible. His forthcoming album of originals, Animal Cities is due out early 2023.