University of Louisiana at Monroe student Jake Schiele won first place in the post-high school division at the annual James Burton International Guitar Festival in Shreveport Saturday, March 31.

Jake Schiele with James Burton

According to Burton’s website, the festival was created to help raise funds for the James Burton Foundation, which “is dedicated to raising money to provide technical training, music lessons and free [quality] guitars to young musicians.”

"James Burton is one of the pillars of American music; he genuinely cares about fostering the growth of that art form,” Schiele said. “Meeting him has brought me closer to achieving my ultimate goal of expressing myself through music."

No stranger to the music world, Schiele has played guitar since childhood and is a member of local band, Gator Bait. His father and brother are also musicians.

He has other ULM ties—mother Linda Schiele is currently a senior at ULM, majoring in elementary education.