Josh Achiron Wins Robert Johnson New Generation Award
Fifteen-year-old Josh Achiron of Atlanta, Georgia is the 2012 winner of the Robert Johnson Blues Foundation New Generation Award.
Josh began playing guitar after visiting Graceland at the age of six. One of Josh’s first guitars was an acoustic baby Martin, which he used while performing at school functions while he was still in elementary school.
Josh’s interest in music can be traced back to his parents – his mother was a modern jazz dancer, and his father was a percussionist and music major at Emory University.
Josh began listening to jazz and blues at a young age, and has been heavily influenced by Eric Clapton, Hiram Bullock and Pat Martino. In 2012, he was a finalist in the Guitar Center’s King of the Blues, the Lee Ritenour/Yamaha Six String Competition for blues guitar and finished 5th in the world at the prestigious International Guitar Foundation of America Classical Guitar Youth Competition.
Josh plans to continue studying both classical and jazz/blues guitar, and to continue writing songs and performing. He hopes to one day attend a University Music Conservatory program and to pursue a career in music.
The Robert Johnson Blues Foundation is honored to recognize Josh Achiron as 2012’s New Generation Award winner.