Armed with a commitment to “bring light into the darkest places in the world,” the Jack Wharff Band makes hope their anthem. Hailing from various areas across Virginia, the band comprises frontman/vocalist Jack Wharff, drummer Garrett Howell, bassist Ryan Atchison, and guitarist Evan Novoa. In a sit-down conversation, they offered a glimpse into their story and mission. Growing up in the Richmond area, Jack Wharff was raised on music that wasn’t as popular then.
He shared, “I feel like growing up, there was a lot of metal coming out of Virginia, but I always listened to bluegrass, and there are so many songs about Virginia in bluegrass. My dad plays bluegrass, so I grew up listening to him play it.” Listening to the band, you can quickly hear that influence come into play in their sound and writing style. “Putting Richmond on their back,” the band makes music that doesn’t just mention Virginia, it sounds like it.
In the early days, the group started out with just Jack and a guitar until he decided he needed a full band. He explained, “I actually found Ryan (bassist) in a musicians-for-hire thing at Guitar Center, and long story short, a year later, I see him and Garrett (drummer) at a bigger-scale open mic, and they sounded pretty good. They had their own thing going on at the time, but I convinced them to play local shows with me, telling venues they should let me play because I have a band. Eventually, we got some shows and even got to play at the Irish Festival in Virginia.”
Before meeting Evan (guitarist) through their manager, the original three-part band went through a period of separation, which Garett went on to explain: “We got into a really dumb argument and just sort of stopped. We didn’t hang out for about six months, and in that time, I lost a close friend to suicide. I also lost my high school drum instructor, who was one of the greatest musicians I’ve ever met. On top of that, I lost my grandfather, and I just remember thinking, ‘I’ve already lost so much; I don’t want to lose these guys.’ So, at a church retreat, I pulled Jack aside, and we fixed it right there that night.”
Jack, Garrett, Ryan, and Evan were already songwriters in their own right before coming together, so writing as a band felt more like muscle memory than a learning curve. Evan explained their composition process, “We sort of all play the same role in writing sessions… Sometimes I’ll come up with a progression, sometimes Ryan will, or sometimes Garett comes up with a drum part first, but a lot of our songs come from real experiences that happened to us the week before. We always go through our notes, which are full of real experiences, stories, and ideas that may have come from traveling, missing home, or missing our ladies…” Jumping in, Ryan shared, “I’ve been writing songs since I was maybe fourteen or fifteen years old, so it’s really cool that we all have that vocabulary and ability to write together. Once we join forces, it’s bigger and better than anything we can do on our own.”
If you listen closely, you can pick out a recurring theme in songs by The Jack Wharff Band. When asked about the band’s mission, Jack broke it down like this: “We did an exercise not long ago, where I brought a piece of paper to each of the guys, and I told them to write down why we do this, why we exist… I got all the papers back, and everyone said the exact same thing. In either the exact same words or with slightly different wording, we all wrote ‘to bring light into the darkest places in the world.’” Going deeper, he explained, “We’re a band that loves Jesus, and that’s what ‘Washed’ is about… that’s the light that we’re talking about. I’ve been saying it at shows, but he’s the real leader of the band, and we’re just trying to follow him… Of all the songs we have written right now, I know that if we can get them out, we could probably help a lot of people.”
For the Jack Wharff Band, music is bigger than the stage, the streams, or even the songs themselves. Since their first release in 2024, they’ve been offering a message of faith to those who need it most. Songs like “Washed” showcase the band’s ability to build a bridge between powerful songwriting and deeper meaning. In the end, they aren’t chasing a spotlight; they’re spreading the light.
The Jack Wharff Band’s first EP, Richmond’s Most Wanted, is out now.
