JD Pinkus

After being a part of the 1980 Georgia Boy's State 100 meter freestyle record winning team, held in Milledgeville, GA, the future was looking bright for JD Pinkus at 12 years old.

'Til the end of 1985 in Atlanta, where he dropped his swimsuit and Orange Sunshine and traded it for a life on the road playing Bass with Butthole Surfers, spreading the Butthole word. Later ‘Bassing’ for Melvins, Helios Creed, Honky, and many more..

Upon this spiritual journey he bonded with his 5-string banjo, spreading it on different recordings, including being backed by John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin on Bass guitar in 1991 while he produced Butthole Surfers, as well as Flaming Lips and Melvins Recordings.

Finally a Cassette label mogul and banjo player extraordinaire, Danny Barnes, enlisted Pinkus to record his first solo Long Play recording for his cassette label Minner Bucket Records, which was then later released on Heavy Feather Records in 2018, Keep On The Grass.

Soon to follow was a relationship with Shimmy Disc / Joyful Noise Recordings and the releasing of another solo psychedelic SpaceGrass Banjo album, 2021’s Fungus Shui, as well as a collaboration with fellow Banjo Psychonaut, Tall Tall Trees, produced by Kramer called Ponder Machine, 2023.

The newest JD Pinkus album (release date June 7, 2024) on Shimmy Disc, is Grow A Pear. An album 5 years in the making. Bridging old sounds from his past with the more recent sounds of the fungal mountain he lives on now, with the assistance of a Blunderbuss of great musicians.

Past SpaceGrass Banjo shows and tours with the likes of Sleep, Weedeater, Clutch, Helmet, Quicksand, PW Long, Scott Biram, ... Soon to be touring with King Buzzo and Trevor Dunn thru the US.