December 30, 2025 – Jai Uttal is a Grammy nominee, kirtan artist, multi-instrumentalist, and ecstatic vocalist. He is considered a pioneer in the world music community with his combined influences from India and American rock and jazz. Jai has been leading, teaching, and performing World Music and kirtan—the ancient yoga of chanting or singing to God—around the world for over 50 years, creating a safe environment for people to open their hearts and voices.

He grew up in New York City and lived in a home filled with music. Jai began studying classical piano at the age of seven, and later learned to play old-time banjo, harmonica, and guitar. At age 17, he heard Indian music for the first time, and two years later moved to California and studied under the famous sarod player, Ali Akbar Khan. Jai later began taking regular pilgrimages to India, living among the wandering street musicians of Bengal, and singing with the kirtan wallahs in the temple of his guru, Neem Karoli Baba.

Jai has emerged as a leading influence in the Bhakti tradition. He considers bhakti to be the core of his musical and spiritual life.

jaiuttal.com

Q. If you are in recovery, what was your drug(s) of choice and when is your sobriety date?

A. My sobriety date is February 19th, 2001. My drug of choice was pretty much every drug but I preferred opiates of all kinds and drinking.

Q. Is there anything special in your sobriety toolkit that helps keep you sober?

A. Love and responsibility to my family and the world.

Q. Do you think addiction is an illness, disease, a choice, or a wicked twist of fate?

A. Well, I think it’s a combination. In my case I know my family on both sides were alcoholics many generations back. And I know that my childhood experiences of sexual abuse created a deep fear of life in me that made me desperate to self-medicate just to make it through the day.

Q. Where are you from and where do you reside now?

A. I grew up in Manhattan and now I live in Grass Valley, California.

Q. What is one word you would use to describe yourself?

A. Dedicated.

Q. Describe how you came to your “rock bottom” point.

A. It was a very long descent and I can’t type well enough to describe it.

Q. If you ever retire, would you prefer to live by the ocean, lake, river, mountaintop, desert, or penthouse?

A. Ocean!

Q. How do you measure success?

A. Spotify streams!

Only joking!

How much love I can share and how much I am loved.

Q. What is your biggest pet peeve?

A. Wet socks.

Q. If you had an extra million dollars, which charity would you donate it to?

A. War Child and OneTreePlanted.

Q. Who has been the biggest influence throughout your life?

A. Neem Karoli Baba, Ali Akbar Khan, Nubia Teixeira and Ezra Gopal Teixeira Uttal.

Q. If you could give advice to your younger self what would it be?

A. Go to fucking therapy! And ‘you’re good enough’!!!

Q. Who made you feel seen growing up?

A. Julius Lester, my first banjo teacher.

Q. Which living person do you most admire?

A. My wife, Nubia Teixeira.

Q. What major event or realization shaped who you are?

A. Taking acid on top of a Buddhist stupa in Sarnath, India and hearing my guru’s voice repeating: “RamRamRamRam”.

Q. What do you love most about living sober?

A. The ability to love and serve.

Q. Which part of your treatment and recovery do you feel was the most interesting or unexpected?

A. Having a child!

Q. What’s your concept of a Higher Power?

A. They/them. Maharajji Neem Karoli Baba and Sri Siddhi Ma and my heart.

Q. What is your Astrological sign?

A. Gemini

Q. What book(s) have you read more than once?

A. All the novels of James Lee Burke

Q. What books are you reading now?

A. I read novels. You might call them literary crime stories.

Q. If you were giving a dinner party for your 3 favorite authors, living or dead, who would they be?


A. James Lee Burke, Walter Mosley & Bob Dylan.

Q. Which film have you watched the most?

A. I like TV more than movies. I’ve watched Peaky Blinders several times.

Q. Who is your favorite film director?

A. Martin Scorsese

Q. Are you binge watching any TV series?

A. Just finished Dope Thieves

Q. What is your favorite App?

A. iTabla Pro

Q. Who is your favorite performer, living or dead?

A. Bob Dylan, Jim’s Hendrix, The Beatles, Bob Marley and Ali Akbar Khan

Q. Who are your heroes in real life?

A. My wife and son?

Q. What is your favorite city?

A. Salvadore, Brazil

Q. What is your favorite cuisine?

A. Indian, if it’s good.

Q. What is the best concert/performance/play you’ve ever attended?

A. Jimi Hendrix at the Fillmore East

Ali Akbar Khan at Reed College

Q. What are five things you always carry with you?

A. Toothpicks, throat lozenges, asthma spray

Q. What is the best and or worse piece of advice someone has given you?

A. Worst: No need to go to treatment, just pray.

Best: No need to go treatment, just pray.

Q. What is the best piece of advice you’ve given someone else?

A. Be patient with yourself.

Q. What is your most treasured possession?

A. My family.

Q. What do you value most in a friendship?

A. Loyalty and honesty.

Q. What do you consider your greatest achievement?

A. Being a good father.

Q. What is your biggest fear?

A. Alzheimers.

Q. Where do you go when you’re seeking solitude?

A. The forest near my home.

Q. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be?

A. Fearlessness.

Q. What would constitute a “perfect” day for you?

A. Music, walk on the beach, sex with my wife.

Q. What is your biggest regret?

A. Not getting divorced from marriage number two a decade earlier.

Q. What is the greatest risk you’ve ever taken?

A. Getting sober.

Q. Which living person do you most despise?

A. Trump.

Q. What is something you’ve learned about yourself in the last six months?

A. I love sitting around doing nothing.

Q. What is something you are currently curious about?

A. The future.

Q. What do you love most about yourself?

A. I’m a great father and I love playing music.

Q. What is your greatest extravagance?

A. Musical instruments and shoes.

Q. When did you realize you were a grown-up?

A. When I became a dad.

Q. How important are your pets to you?

A. Don’t have any.

Q. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

A. Awesome.