Josh “Jug” Rinkel

Josh Rinkel is known for his time withe the Po’ Ramblin’ Boys. After winning The International Bluegrass Music Association’s 2018 Emerging Artist of the year Award, the Po’ Ramblin Boys came to Rounder Records for their album “Toil, Tears & Trouble.” The material for the group’s freshman Rounder Records album “Toil, Tears & Trouble,” was a combination of original songs and old numbers that honor the group’s mentors and bluegrass heroes. In fact, two of those gems on the Rounder album, “Next Train South” and “Hickory, Walnut & Pine,” were nominated for IBMA Song of the Year along with “Next Train South” taking the trophy for SPBGMA same category in 2020. The momentum of “Toil, Tears & Trouble” has continued to grow with the band’s first GRAMMY Nomination for Best Bluegrass Album.  Their 2024 release of “Wanders Like Me” has been met with great fanfare.  Josh was instrumental in writing 5 of their songs.

Josh started playing banjo at 13 years old and taught himself to play guitar. He plays guitar in a fashion molded by his heroes in traditional bluegrass. He can play serve up a steady rhythm and then interject clean, smooth runs that feel like a natural extension of the melody. He puts all the notes in the right spot that tastefully fill in the music.  His style of play supports and enhances the music.  Over the years he has increasingly honed his craft of song-writing.   His songs  take you on a journey that connects you with shared emotions.  They are songs that you can experience.

We are proud to be associated with Josh as a Featured Artist and for inspiring the Josh Rinkel Signature model. The Josh Rinkel Signature model Gallagher was born when Josh, the former guitar player for the Po’ Ramblin’ Boys, came to Gallagher to order a custom guitar. David said, “Because we knew what Josh needed and how he played, we changed our design slightly on our bracing and we got a nice strong bluegrass guitar. Originally, the guitar was built as a custom G-50. He knew what he wanted visually. But then we worked on what it needed to provide for him as a player. After we built it, we liked the voicing of it so well that we talked with Josh about a signature model. So, we now offer that.”

Regarding his signature model Gallagher guitar, Josh said, “I met David at Merlefest. I think it was in 2022. C.J. (Lewandowski) bought a Gallagher from them and I would play it from time-to-time on the road.” Josh was interested in buying a back-up guitar to the one that he owned because he said that he is really hard on a guitar—he plays hard and the band was traveling into a lot of different environments, in terms of climate, which is also hard on a guitar. He said, “We might play in Florida one day and then fly to Arizona the next.  That can be hard on a guitar.” Thinking that it would be a good idea to have a second guitar in case his main guitar needed to have some work done on it, Josh talked with Gallagher since he was so impressed with the guitar C.J. had purchased from them. He said, “I wanted a sunburst, but I wanted the center of the burst to be the natural wood. I also didn’t want any markers on the fingerboard and I wanted both the finger board and the peghead to be bound with black binding. I also wanted an Adirondack spruce top.” Gallagher accepted all of those visual appointments, used Adironcack spruce, and also added heavier bracing due to the way Josh plays and the constant touring, when building Josh’s guitar. After receiving the new Gallagher, it became his main stage guitar. Josh said, “I jokingly said to David, ‘This guitar sounds so nice, you need to add it as a new Josh Rinkle signature model.