Jim Honeyman

Jim Honeyman plays mandolin, mandola, Octave Mandolin, acoustic Guitar, and bass (among others).  He is well known for his high tenor voice and the wide variety of folk genres that he adapts songs from and presents them in his own style.  Jim selects songs for his repertoire that hit a chord within and resonate with some personal experience over his life.  This helps bring personal emotion which is evident in his performances.

Jim grew up in rural North Dakota and began playing electric and acoustic guitar in the 7^th grade.  Jim’s dad was an accomplished dance fiddler who also played accordion, so Jim was surrounded with traditional music growing up.  Jim played electric guitar in a high school band and began learning the mandolin at age 24.  Jim was a solo vocalist from an early age and sang in church, elementary, and high school choirs; as well as a variety of adult community vocal groups growing up and in his adult life.

Jim has performed on multiple CDs and recording projects for the Badger Mountain Dry Band, Hank Cramer, Brian Maskew, Mary Hartman, Chuck Peden, and Doug Slagle.  Jim is in demand as both a harmony vocal sideman, as well as an instrumentalist.

Jim repertoire draws from old American and Celtic traditional folk songs, old Gospel songs, modern acoustic folk composers and performers, as well as traditional and modern bluegrass performers.

Currently Jim sings lead and Tenor harmony vocals with the Badger Mountain Dry Band.  Jim is one of the founding members of the BMDB and has played with John April since 1991.  Over the years, Jim has played occasional dates with Walla Walla’s Ryegrass String Band, and frequently seen with the versatile folk performer and historical storyteller, Hank Cramer.   Jim has performed multiple times as a soloist at the Tumbleweed Music Festival; also with Humphry and Hartman, Hank Cramer, and has been featured at the Saturday Night Concert in 2005 and 2015 with the Badger Mountain Dry Band.

Jim is a founding board member of the 3RFS and has served as the Tumbleweed Sound Stage coordinator for Tumbleweed for many years.  Jim has run sound at either the River Stage or the South Stage at every Tumbleweed Music Festival (that have been held live and in person). Jim moved to the Tri-Cities in 1975 and resides in Pasco, WA.  Jim is a chemical engineer, and is semi-retired, doing consulting for Jacobs Engineering, Inc.