Before finding success in the mid-2010s as part of a Juno Award-winning Canadian folk duo with his wife, American musician Jason Romero largely devoted himself to his career as a skilled luthier, building custom banjos and establishing his business, the J. Romero Banjo Co. A native of California, Romero began playing banjo in the early '90s, developing clawhammer, old-time, and classic bluegrass techniques. While he was involved in the folk scene, his musical pursuits never quite gained traction until he began playing old-time music with his wife, Pharis, in the late 2000s and it ended up being his career as a tradesman that first caught traction. After training in fine woodworking in Northern California in the late '90s, he spent five years learning the luthiery trade with Wildwood Instruments, eventually establishing his own shop in 2002.

While still living in California in 2007, Romero met his future wife, Pharis, and the two eventually put down roots in her hometown of Horsefly, British Columbia. A musical and romantic partnership from the beginning, they first collaborated in 2009 as part of the Haints Old Time Stringband. A year later they made their first push toward becoming a duo with the collaborative Back Up and Push, credited to Jason Pharis Romero and Friends. In 2011 they made their official debut as a duo with A Passing Glimpse, showcasing their close harmonies and deft picking with a set of traditional American folk and country songs. By this point Pharis had also become deeply involved in the Romero Banjo Co. business as well, handling many of the intricate pearl inlays on Jason's custom banjos played by folk music icons like Ricky Skaggs and Jerry Douglas.

As a musical act, the Romeros' star continued to rise, earning plenty of critical acclaim for their follow-up album, Long Gone Out West Blues, in 2013. It was their third album, however, that proved to be their breakthrough. Recorded at their home and released in 2015, A Wanderer I'll Stay brought the duo widespread attention, winning a Juno Award for Traditional Roots Album of the Year in 2016. That same year brought tragedy for the Romeros when Jason's shop burned to the ground, destroying all of his tools, inventory, and even the couple's own vintage instruments. During the next two years, he and Pharis slowly rebuilt the shop and recorded what would prove to be their first LP of all-original material, 2018's Sweet Old Religion. ~ Timothy Monger, Rovi