The Jack Wharff Band on Being Inspired by Tyler Childers, Performing at C2C Festival 2026 and More

Ahead of their new Strange EP and their eagerly anticipated UK debut at C2C Festival 2026, The Jack Wharff Band sit down with Holler to shed light on their musical influences.

The Virgina-based four-piece, comprising lead vocalist Jack Wharff, drummer Garrett Howell, bassist Ryan Atchison and guitarist Evan Novoa, are quickly establishing themselves at the forefront of the contemporary alt-country and bluegrass wave.

After gaining traction in 2025 with ‘Washed’, The Jack Wharff Band have kept the momentum high with their stellar debut EP, Richmond's Most Wanted, and follow-up singles, including the high-profile ‘No Way Out’, which scored a high-profile spot on Landman.

The group's sonics pivot around the band-members’ shared love of Americana and alt-country, with their haunting, evocative narratives all tied together by their deep-seated faith.

While chatting to Holler, Wharff cites three artists as being integral to their musical foundation, Tyler Childers, Sam Barber and Billy Strings. On the former, he champions the iconic Live at Red Barn Radio as his favourite album, and praise Childers’ visceral ‘Shake the Frost hook - “So if it’d make you stay / I wouldn’t act so angry all the time / I wouldn’t keep it all inside / And I’d let you know how much I loved you every day / Darlin’ won’t ya stay right here and shake this frost off of my bones” - as a set of lyrics that have “always stayed with me for years on end”.

You can undoubtedly hear the intentionally raw, DIY aesthetic of Childers’ early material laced into The Jack Wharff Band's sonic blueprint, along with the Kentucky maverick's commitment to vulnerable, lucid storytelling. The group flit between bluegrass, folk, Americana and country, and they convey how any sub-genre can come to the fore, depending on the day, “I don’t think we’ve ever gone into a write with the intention of making a song a certain style. One of my favorite things about us is that each of us have such different influences and they all flow together when we write so depending on what we tap into that day the song varies”.

It's a unique blend of strands and textures that UK country and Americana fans are excited to soak up during the London leg of C2C Festival 2026, with The Jack Wharff Band taking their burgeoning catalogue to Europe for the first time. Alongside C2C Festival, they'll be performing in Rotterdam, Berlin, Dublin, Manchester and Glasgow.

Wharff recalls how one of their good friends, Max McNown, stressed to them how wonderful the UK country scene is, “Max McNown told me how much fun it was for him his first time, how amazing the culture is and how much they love country music!”

As well as getting to witness infectious hooks and vibrant lyricism, one thing that radiates throughout The Jack Wharff Band's discography is the spirituality that underpins each track.

As Wharff candidly explains, “[Faith] is the most important thing we can do! When we were figuring out why we exist as a band at the early stages every single one of us said the same thing and that was “to bring The Light into the darkest places””.

Armed with this inspiring cri-de-coeur and a batch of new songs courtesy of their Strange EP, which arrives on March 13th - just in time for C2C Festival - The Jack Wharff Band are showing no signs of slowing down as they continue their impressive ascent.

The Jack Wharff Band headline C2C Festival 2026 this March.