With music swirling around the house, it’s no wonder Jake Ybarra wound up singing and writing superlative songs that instantly imbed themselves in the listener. The Greenville, South Carolina native started off singing in choirs as a boy, then playing in rock bands as a teen. Ybarra (pronounced e-BAR-a) moved on to college to earn his degree in Political Science and Government at Furman University, including a legislative internship at the European Parliament in Brussels.
After graduating, Ybarra got serious about songwriting. Inspired by the likes of Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, James McMurtry, John Prine and Lucinda Williams, he turned his attention to creating music that bore his own signature. In 2020 Ybarra recorded what he calls his “pandemic project,” the four-song EP Basement Songs, and posted it on Instagram.
The response was swift. His songs not only earned him a dedicated following around Greenville, but also landed him a management deal and an opportunity to record his stunning debut album, Something In The Water. Ybarra’s evocative, emotional lyrics display a hard-won wisdom that belies an old soul in a 25-year-old’s body. The characters in his stories invite comparisons not only to his songwriting heroes but also to his favorite authors such as George Saunders, Stephen Vincent Benet and Ernest Hemingway. Armed with the heartfelt tales on Something In The Water, Jake Ybarra is bending ears and pulling on heartstrings wherever he plays.
“Not surprisingly, Ybarra is already being compared to any number of iconic individuals like Guy Clark, John Prine, and Rodney Crowell as far as his ability to craft descriptive songs with real-world substance and soul.” - American Songwriter
