- banjo and harmony vocals.

During his junior year in college in Philadelphia, Jim backed into bluegrass music by way of the folk music revival. He started attending weekly jam sessions, playing a lot of Irish music on the autoharp and banjo.

While taking a year off between undergraduate school and law school, Jim returned home to Martinsburg, West Virginia and directed his efforts toward learning to play the bluegrass banjo. It was during this time he met Andy Boarman, a musician and luthier who has helped four generations of banjo players to get the best sound possible out of their instruments. He accomplished this by setting up their instruments and teaching them licks. The list of pickers influenced by Andy includes Don Reno, Little Roy Lewis, and Raymond Fairchild. Jim considers Andy as his initial and most lasting inspiration in music.

While attending law school in Morgantown, West Virginia, Jim met and began playing music with guitarist Rusty Williams; the two played for several years with Mountain Grass. Jim and Rusty recorded one album with this group before leaving the band and moving to Martinsburg. Through the assimilation of a number of competing influences over the years including J. D. Crowe, Bob Black, Don Reno, and Ralph Stanley, Jim has arrived a style that is uniquely his own.