Growing up in the small south Australian town of Quorn, Jedd was first given the gift of country music by his father, who loved the sounds of Australian traditional country singer Slim Dusty, and American icons such as Johnny Cash and Marty Robbins.
"My dad had lots of records," Jedd recalls. "I remember listening to Johnny Cash's 'Folsom Prison Blues' and 'I Walk The Line.' The first guitar solos I ever heard were Luther Perkins', and for some reason that got me excited. I guess that's what got me into guitar playing. And then Marty Robbins' Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs - it was a reddish/pink cover with Marty dressed in black on the front. Music was always exciting to me. I used to run around the house freaking out because it affected me."
When he wasn't listening to music at home, much of Jedd's childhood was spent onstage. At age eight, he won first place at the Port Pirie Country Music Festival. One year later, Jedd's dad gave him a few guitar lessons, and by age 10 he was playing a custom-made De Gruchy acoustic guitar.
At 12, Jedd was chosen to represent Australia on a three-week tour of Europe, performing at the International Music For Youth festivals held in France, Belgium and Sweden. "My parents knew I was into music, but they didn't really know how far I would take it," says Jedd. "After that tour happened, I think they figured I was pretty serious about it."
Jedd's early teens involved practicing guitar for hours - and waiting for his voice to change. "I played guitar for three years without really singing much, until I was 16 or 17," he says. "I really concentrated on playing the electric guitar, and I worked on the acoustic guitar, too.
"I practiced at least three hours a day, and on school holidays I would practice eight or nine hours a day, I just wanted to be good. I wanted different tones and different sounds."
One night on the radio, Jedd heard the Ricky Skaggs song "Country Boy" and was hooked on Skaggs' rapid-fire blend of country and bluegrass. "That was the fastest music I'd ever heard," he recalls. "It was pretty mind-boggling. Then I started listening to Vince Gill, because my mom was completely in love with him - and still is! I always thought his guitar solo on 'Liza Jane' was amazing."
Through a friend who was a bluegrass mandolin champion, Kym Warner, Jedd was introduced to some of the greats of bluegrass music. He heard the sounds of Tony Rice, Del McCoury and Ralph Stanley, and was taken with the music's purity. He was also drawn to country legends like Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. "The only new music I had access to was popular music, and it didn't interest me," he admits. "I found early country music and bluegrass more interesting, so that's about all I listened to until I was 18."
Jedd traveled throughout his teenage years, performing as a sideman with various country entertainers. After high school he had one goal - to attend South Plains College in Levelland, Texas, which offers a bluegrass music program. The experience was life-changing. "For starters," he explains, "I had serious singing lessons for the first time in my life, which helped me a lot. I learned confidence in my playing and singing, and just more confidence as a human being. I mean, moving from one country to another on your own and having to get by without certain people sometimes makes you a stronger person. Looking back, it was a big step, but at the time was something I had to do. There was no option - I had to come to America."
On a visit home between semesters, Jedd had another life-altering experience - he heard the music of country rocker Buddy Miller. "A friend of mine brought around this record of his called Poison Love," says Jedd. "I heard that record, and Buddy's guitar playing and singing completely changed my whole outlook on what country music could be. I could hear all of this other stuff that had filtered through that I didn't understand because I hadn't really listened to rock and roll or anything else. But it became such a big influence."