COLIN CUTLER

"[Tarwater is] one magnificent tapestry of roots music."
~No Depression

"Wickedly funny."
~Susquehanna Folk Music Society

"Devastating."
~Americana Highways

An Army veteran who traded in his rifle for a banjo and guitar, Colin Cutler is a Greensboro, North Carolina-based singer-songwriter, folk musician, poet, and storyteller. Whether solo or with his band, Hot Pepper Jam, he is a wide-ranging performer whose musical roots draw from the breadth of American folk music—from Appalachian oldtime to blues to gospel to country to rock’n’roll—to form what No Depression has described as “one magnificent tapestry of roots music.”

While his first few albums were directly inspired by his background in oldtime music, his most recent effort was even more ambitious and electric. Tarwater was inspired by both life and the earthy characters of Georgia author Flannery O'Connor, achieving "...a juke joint energy coursing through it and a humidity that seems to sweat out the sins and the booze that these characters are often soaked in” (Paste).

The 2022 Winner of the Susquehanna Folk Festival’s Emerging Artists Competition, the last couple years have seen Colin Cutler and Hot Pepper Jam playing across the Southeast, with appearances at Merlefest, Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival, the North Carolina Folk Festival, Antlers and Acorns Songwriters Festival, and the Carolina Bible Camp Bluegrass Festival.


Member of FAI, NSAI, BMI, and AMA-UK

 Releases:

Tarwater (Greensboro, November 2023)
”A latecomer for the year’s finest album, Cutler had the audacity to say, “Inspired by the work of Flannery O’Connor,” and the talent to back up that statement in both form and content. Cutler demonstrates a grasp that’s both intuitive and scholarly when it comes to the knottiness in O’Connor’s vision of the South in all of its complexity. That he does so without sacrificing tunefulness in his songs makes Tarwater a marvel. 4.5 stars.” ~Country Universe

Hot Pepper Jam (Greensboro, July 2021)
A light-hearted return to the oldtime sound of Nelson County Wayside, with a few deep-cut traditionals, a steel-driven country waltz, and a host of sideways-looking originals.

Stranger in the Promised Land (York, UK, May 2019).
An Americana band runs off to join the circus and broke the heartland, with a touch of rock and roll

Nelson County Wayside (Greensboro, 2016)
His banjo-driven debut of original and traditional tunes in the Appalachian oldtime and ballad tradition