About

 Born in 1999 in Austin, Texas, Epitome J (a.k.a. Jackson McMurrey) moved to Montana with his parents and two older siblings (a younger brother would come a couple years later) when he was just barely two months old. As of 2024, Jackson relocated back to Austin after being raised his entire life in Billings, Montana as well as its smaller and more rural neighboring town, Laurel. With big dreams in mind, Jackson planned for the move back to the big, thriving city to help him pursue his dreams of being a writer, trying to gain notoriety as a songwriter and poet.

Jackson came up with the moniker "Epitome J" his junior year of high school when he was 16 or 17 years old, after dedicating a large portion of his life to poetry, positioning it as his highest passion other than music. The catalyst for this was after his high school English teacher took note for his passion for writing even though he often showed up to class depressed and had a hard time staying awake; still noticing his passion for writing, she gifted him a Moleskine journal, which became his first completed work that he finished in 2020 (“The Moleskin Chronicles”)

He had already started writing original music years before as soon as he picked up the guitar around 14 years old and had regular writing sessions with his music teacher, Bob Engel, who became his largest and most powerful mentor if not best friend despite a 60 year age gap. Bob remains Jackson’s largest inspiration and influence to this day, as was Bob’s son, Damon Engel who has since moved on. 

Jackson is largely influenced by classic songwriters like Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, Tom Petty, Paul Simon, Paul McCartney, etc. and more modern alternative musicians and songwriters like Matt Schultz (Cage the Elephant), Julian Casablancas (The Strokes), Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys), Britt Daniels (Spoon) and Luke Pritchard (The Kooks). 

Epitome J is hard to fit into a box but that’s what makes him a fun friend and an interesting artist to listen to or read. Going for somewhat of an avant-garde bedroom-pop genre bend, his style continues to grow, evolve and mature as he does as a person. He also really appreciates you being here.