Jay DiPaola

I'm a singer-songwriter and entertainer from St. Louis, MO, but I've grown up all over the USA.  Ten different states and counting! I sing and play acoustic and electric guitar. 

I grew up with five siblings.  Our parents loved to sing so we did too.  Normal behavior. They'd parade us in front of their martini party friends and have us belt out favorites and harmonize.  Yes, the Von Trapp Children influence was evident, but the phonograph in the living room played Harry Belafonte and Xavier Cugat and Stan Kenton too, and us kids would spin til we fell down laughing.  Music meant the joy of belonging and the dizziness and delight of whirling to it's form and chaos -- all happening right there in our house, but also opening up the roof for me to something way beyond St. Louie.

Since then I've played a lot of martini parties and club gigs, and a few arenas too.  My performing history is a catalog of solo touring and ensemble work with traditional and progressive rock, jazz, funk, classical, and folk musicians.  I founded two, original touring bands, Launching Lydia and What Just Happened, and cuts from the studio albums and live recordings have received wide radio airplay, including Don't Give Away Your Mind, aired in it's 8-minute entirety on NPR.  

I've also produced and promoted festivals and live performance venues, including staging hundreds of shows geared toward putting young or amateur performers in front of an audience, a place they can learn to shine.

I currently live and regularly perform in Asheville, NC.