Jared Shoemaker - Chicken Pickin’ | Southern Rock & Country Blues Live Performance

# Grit Session: Jared Shoemaker Strips It Back to the Bone

There's something about watching a real musician work in the raw. No stadium lights, no backing tracks, just a player and their craft laid bare. That's exactly what you get with Jared Shoemaker's Grit Session, filmed right here at The Rugged Revival—a stripped-back masterclass in country-rock authenticity that reminds you why we fell in love with this music in the first place.

Shoemaker brings a refreshing blend of Southern rock grit and country blues sensibility to every note he plays. The Richmond, Kentucky native and U.S. Navy veteran gained national recognition as a standout on Season 29 of NBC's The Voice, where his raw talent caught the ear of Adam Levine. But here's the thing about Shoemaker that those television moments only hint at: he's a genuine musician's musician, someone equally comfortable behind the drums (his childhood instrument in an Irish bagpipe band, of all things) as he is commanding center stage.

What makes this Grit Session special is the unfiltered intimacy of it all. Watch Shoemaker's hands work the fretboard during those chicken pickin' passages—the kind of technique that separates the genuine article from the pretenders. There's a confidence in his playing that comes from years spent honing his craft, not from chasing streaming numbers or chart positions. His voice carries the weight of someone who's lived a bit, served his country, and earned every ounce of credibility he commands.

The mood throughout is one of controlled intensity. These are songs rooted in honest emotion and technical proficiency, performed the way they're meant to be heard—with nothing between the artist and the listener. Whether you're familiar with Shoemaker's work with his band Marshull or discovering him for the first time, this session captures something increasingly rare in modern country music: pure, unvarnished artistry.

This is the kind of performance that separates the wheat from the chaff in the independent country world. If you want to see what real talent looks like when the production budget is stripped away and only the music remains, this Grit Session is essential viewing.