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David Jacobs-Strain has proven to be a breath of fresh air on both the folk festival and blues festival circuits, as his guitar playing style fuses elements of both traditional and contemporary folk and blues. Born in Connecticut but moving to Eugene, Oregon with his family, Jacobs-Strain graduated from South Eugene High School in 2001 and attended college in Northern California. He began accompanying himself on guitar while singing as a nine-year-old, with plenty of encouragement from his guitar teacher, Eugene-area folksinger Emily Fox. Among the first tunes he learned was Bessie Smith's "Backwater Blues," and he became more fascinated with blues than he was with traditional folk music. His parents took him to see live shows by Taj Mahal and Walker T. Ryan at the local theater, and he also expanded his knowledge of the blues by listening to old acoustic blues masters like Mississippi Fred McDowell, Lightnin' Hopkins, Robert Johnson, and Skip James. Another regional influence was Nor...