Isaac Stroupe began playing mandolin at age 5 is his family’s bluegrass band in Gaston County, North Carolina before discovering the music of 78rpm records, taking up guitar, and intensely studying the styles of rural guitarists of the 1920s and ’30s. Using these styles as a jumping off point, he composed several records of American Primitive guitar music and toured nationally under the moniker Moses Nesh. He has worked as a full time luthier for 13 years and now resides in Rossville, Georgia building flattop guitars in his workshop, Minerva Fretworks, as well as recently founding Chattanooga Fine Violins.