Oxford, Kansas native Jacob Metz has been named as the new reso-guitarist with Rhonda Vincent & The Rage.
A 2021 graduate of the Bluegrass, Old Time and Roots Music program at ETSU, Jacob had until recently been playing both banjo and reso-guitar with Darin & Brooke Aldridge. He grew up just a short distance from the legendary Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, KS, and started attending there as a teen when he discovered bluegrass music.
While still at ETSU, Jacob took a gig playing reso with The Clay Hess Band. Since graduation, he keeps a hand in as an adjunct faculty member, teaching banjo and reso-guitar students at the school.
Metz tells us that, though he had gotten to know Rhonda some years ago, it didn’t occur to him that he might someday join her on the road.
“Getting the opportunity to play with Rhonda is really special to me. I’ve grown up knowing Rhonda, having attended her family’s festival in Greentop, Missouri, the Sally Mountain Festival, several years in a row throughout high school. The first time I met Rhonda was at that festival, which is where I also got to play as a guest member of the Sally Mountain Show for their performances at Sally Mountain in 2016.
From then on, we’ve always kept in touch and maintained a friendship. I never would have thought as a teenager that I would one day get to be a member of her band. During one of those festivals that I attended with my family, we were listening to Rhonda and the Rage do a song that featured Brent Burke called the Dobro Chimes. As soon as he finished the song, my grandmother turned to me and said, ‘You have to learn that song’….now almost ten years later, I get to play that song with Rhonda.
All in all, I am extremely blessed to get to do what I do, and I’m thankful to my Heavenly Father who deserves every bit of credit for all good things in my life.
I look forward to meeting many great people out on the road and making great music with Rhonda and the rest of the guys in the Rage.”
Congratulations Jacob!
You can follow the tour schedule for Rhonda Vincent & The Rage online.
