Originally from the Seattle-Tacoma area, Jim Hewitt joined the music scene in Tucson shortly after he moved to town in 1973 for graduate work in Anthropology at the University of Arizona, where he received an M.A. in 1975.  He got involved with some ne’er do well pickers at Pima Community College, soon to be known as The Tortolita Gutpluckers, with whom he played for over 35 years before relocating to Colorado.

He was the lead instrumentalist for several well-known Tucson bands: Tucson-Area-Music-Award winning (TAMMIE) Terry Pollock and Thunderhead North, The Blue Prairie Dogs with whom Jim also won an individual TAMMIE in 1999 for best String player.  He played in a duo with popular singer/songwriter Sal Valdivia of Loveland, Colorado. He has played the Tucson Folk Festival numerous times with these groups as well as renowned singer/songwriter John Coinman.

He acquired the nickname “Diamond Jim” while playing for several seasons in the Gaslight Theatre orchestra for the winter western show.

He and his wife, Lynn Perez-Hewitt, lived in Oracle, Arizona for 15 years before moving to Grand Junction, Colorado. In addition to running a recording studio, Jim finds time for web-site and database programming. He also manages to find time for his passion, acoustic and electronic musical composition and improvisational performance and audio recording. In November of 2016 Jim and Lynn relocated to Littleton, Colorado, to explore expanded opportunities available in the greater Denver area where he performed with Rob Roper and Scupanon, culminating in a well-received performance at the nationally renowned Swallow Hill Music venue in 2019. During his time in Littleton he frequently appeared with the Cadillac Cowboys country-western band at several local bars, before COVID shut down the music scene in 2020. He currently resides with Lynn and their dogs in the 170-year old town of Stoughton, Wisconsin where the new studio has been built out in the basement of their lovely home.

Jim’s (known as “dj” to his friends) musical tastes run the gamut from bluegrass, country and western (yes both types), folk, blues, jazz, alt. rock, rap, and electronica (especially the “chill” genre, not to be confused with “chili”). He describes his original musical stylings as ranging from “Grassical folk tuneage with a we bit o’ the Celt” (the Barn Jazz volumes) all the way to orchestral tone poem-like musings and electronica (the “Rivers” series).

Favorite bands/artists and influences:  Mark O’Conner, Vassar Clements, Darol Anger, John Fahey, Lorenna McKennitt, John Coinman, Sam Busch, Greg Morton, The Grateful Dead, Phish, Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros, Miles Davis, Old Blind Dogs, Martin Hayes, Bob Dylan, Jorma Kaukonen, and Jack Cassidy, just to name a few.
Favorite Grand Junction band: The Instagators. 
Favorite Denver area songwriter: Rob Roper.
Favorite C&W bands/artists: The Cadillac Cowboys, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Hank Williams.

Jim was one of the co-founders of the Fiesta de las Calabazas in Oracle, Arizona, and the music promoter and one of the performers at this event since its inception in 2000. One of the first new festivals of the new millennium, the Fiesta de las Calabazas continued as a showcase for undiscovered and rising musical talent in southern Arizona until its demise in 2010, due to lack of funding and the temporary closure of Oracle State Park by the Arizona State Parks Department. RIP!

In 2003 Jim founded Barn Jazz Productions as a vehicle for pursuing an alternative career in music recording and audiovisual music production. With the able assistance of his wife, Lynn Perez-Hewitt, M.A., APR, public relations maven, manager and accountant (and keeper of the purse), Barn Jazz Productions continues to expand its client base and creative interests. 

Lynn Perez-Hewitt, is a published writer (Measured Time), Rotarian, and the media and marketing director for Barn Jazz Productions, as well as Jim’s muse.

Lynn is a 2011 recipient of the Southern Arizona chapter of PRSA’s Lifetime achievement Award, is a consultant to nonprofits, economic development groups and government agencies.

Among the organizations she has served during nearly three decades in Tucson have been Friends of Kartchner Caverns State Park, Microbusiness Advancement Center, Community Food Bank, Copper Corridor Economic Development Coalition, the Pima County Health Department and the Tucson Chamber Artists.

Lynn is Accredited in Public Relations, holds a master’s degree in Educational Leadership from Northern Arizona University and a Communications and English double major from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. She is a Past President of the Southern Arizona chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, and a Past-President of the Tucson American Marketing Association. She wrote columns for Inside Tucson Business on topics pertinent to small business and nonprofit public relations.

In September, 2015 she and Jim formed a partnership with Mike Austin and Stephen Schwartz to produce a conference held in Tucson called The Final Transition, which brought together researchers and authors from all over the world for presentations on death, dying, and consciousness. Since moving to Wisconsin she has continued her active involvement in Rotary.