Jump, Little Children (JLC or Jump), is a band formed in 1991 in the city of Charleston, South Carolina. They played their first show in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, but it was not until 1994 that the line-up of musicians in the band was stablized. The members of the band are: Jay Clifford: vocals and rhythm guitar Matthew Bivins: tin whistle, harmonica, accordion, melodica, and electric and acoustic mandolin Ward Williams: cello and electric guitar Jonathan Gray: double bass Evan Bivins: drums
Michael Bellar and Amanda Kapasouz, the affectionately named sixth and seventh members of the band, are frequent collaborators. The name of the band comes from the title of a song by Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee which the band played in its early years.
On June 16, 2005 the band announced that after the end of the year they do not plan on touring any more, but have not completely ruled out the possibility of recording more material or continuing their traditional Dock Street Theatre shows.
All the members of the band with the exception of Gray attended the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, along with former member Chris Pollen. They began playing Celtic music in college and soon Clifford, Pollen, and the Bivins brothers went to Dublin and then Boston to hone their craft. When Pollen left the band to join a religious cult, recent graduate Williams rejoined the band in Charleston, along with Gray.
The band started busking on the corner of East Bay and Market Street in Charleston and continued on to larger shows, developing a growing following in the Southeast, and soon signed with Breaking Records, a subsidiary of Atlantic owned by Hootie and the Blowfish, in 1998.