J. K. Coltrain

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J. K. Coltrain was born in Columbus, Ohio. He spent his early childhood days between there and West Virginia where his parents operated a small Mom & Pop grocery store. His father also was an excellent auto mechanic and in fact owned a number of repair shops over the years and was a weekend stock car racer, which is one reason why J. K. is a Nascar fanatic.

J.K. grew up surrounded by music and musicians. His cousin, Buddy Starcher was a professional recording artist on Columbia Records and was one of the founders of the Starday recording label and performed on the then popular Midwestern & Louisiana Hayrides. He also introduced the late Keith Whitley who first appeared on Buddys weekly radio show in Charleston, West Virginia when he was just 8 years old.

His uncle and grandfather performed together at churches throughout the South. That's where J. K. made his first appearance singing in church at the age of 11. His first professional job was at age 14 when he began singing with The Pleasant Hill Quartet, a well-known gospel group at the time.

In his teens he tried his hand in high school dance bands like Fire n' Ice and The Four Aces but by age 20 he had returned to country music. At that time J. K. helped form a 7 piece country rock group called 'The Southern Express'. They garnered a great deal of regional success and opened for many popular groups at that time such as the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Poco, and the Marshall Tucker Band.

In 1984, JK left to pursue a solo career and was quickly signed by Monument Records and it seemed that he was destined to a fast rise to stardom. However Monument Records filed for bankruptcy without releasing anything. So again he found himself in Nashville without a label.

He first cracked the country music charts in 1987 with a self-penned song, West Virginia You're Still My Home on the Studio 7 label. Since then he has made appearances on numerous radio & TV shows including The Nashville Showcase, The Midnight Jamboree & Stars of Tomorrow. J. K. has toured throughout the United States and Canada and worked with many others in country music such as: Jerry Reed, Loretta Lynn, the Bellamy Brothers, Conway Twitty, Buck Owens, George Jones, Tammy Wynette, and Jerry Lee Lewis.

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