John Bass is a Memphis-based guitarist, songwriter, and educator whose work over the past 20 years has garnered regional, national, and international recognition. He has performed and recorded with artists such as Bobby Rush, George Coleman, Kirk Whalum, and Eden Brent and was an invited performer at the 2023 Festival Internacional de Guitarra in Cartagena, Colombia. In 2021, he arranged, co-produced, and performed on an original recording of “America the Beautiful” that featured blues legends Bobby Rush and Eddie Cotton, and his debut solo album Nowhere in Between is scheduled to be released in 2024.

Bass is also an Associate Professor at Rhodes College, where he serves as the Director of the Mike Curb Institute for Music, which has been recognized by Billboard magazine as a “Top Music Business School.” At Rhodes he teaches classes on Songwriting, Improvisation, and Popular Music History, and his writing, such as his latest article, “White Supremacy and the Major Scale,” appears regularly in scholarly journals and other media outlets.

Photo by Jackson Hendrix