Jack Shields is a Los Angeles–based indie rock musician whose work sits at the intersection of Americana and grunge, shaped by detuned electric guitars, pedal steel, and unvarnished songwriting. 

Raised in Connecticut, Shields spent years moving between odd jobs and music while steadily writing and recording. During the COVID lockdowns, he worked at Mammoth Mountain in California, watching ski patrol deliberately trigger avalanches after major storms to prevent catastrophe later. With live music on pause, that image lodged itself deeply and would later give shape to his next body of work.

After relocating to Nashville, Shields pursued a more traditional songwriting path while working as a waiter. Burnout, debt, and frustration with the music industry led him toward heavier, louder rock songs—written less as statements than as survival responses. Just as that tension peaked, Shields was asked to join the folk-rock band Richy Mitch & The Coal Miners, stepping almost overnight into international touring as a guitarist and collaborator.

That shift defines much of Shields’ recent work. His forthcoming album Avalanche Hour was recorded in short bursts between tours, captured instinctively and quickly, carrying the strain of forward motion colliding with unresolved pressure. The title refers to a point of no return: the moment when past and future meet and standing still is no longer possible.

In 2025, Shields released his debut double album Cherry Pick the Past under the name Jack Shields & The Mojave Rush, a twenty-song collection spanning country dirges, garage rock blowouts, and long-form drift. Rather than documenting a single moment, the record pulled from years of writing, clearing accumulated weight in preparation for what came next.

His band, The Mojave Rush, is not a fixed lineup but a rotating framework of musicians and friends, built around songs about flawed people, small failures, and quiet absurdities.