Jay Round was born into a musical family and had various stringed instruments handed to him at a very early age.  He started learning the guitar when he was 4 years old and could play a number of stringed instruments before he was 10.  In 1970, he was taken by the unique qualities and sound of the hammered dulcimer.    Jay learned to play several songs on the hammered dulcimer within a relatively short time and began his  professional music career when he was 13 years old.  Although a Michigan resident, offers for Jay to perform came from as far away as Arkansas, North and South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana.  Jay's parents and friends of the family were enlisted to chauffeur him to concert dates until he was old enough to get his own drivers license.   It was at the Arkansas Folk Festival in the early 70's where Jay met Grand Ole Opry star Grandpa Jones who took a liking to Jay's upright bass playing.  Coincidentally, Jay had learned to play the bass by listening to Grandpa Jones records.

Grandpa Jones invited Jay to Nashville in October 1973 during the taping of Hee-Haw and hired him to play bass with his band throughout the latter half of the 1970's.  Jay recorded his first record album using the hammered dulcimer in 1974.  Other albums followed in 1975, 1977, and 1980.  During this time in addition to performing with Grandpa Jones, Jay was the opening act for several Nashville stars including Hank Snow, Ernest Tubb, Crystal Gayle, Little Jimmy Dickens, and Dotty West throughout the United States and Canada, and often appeared with regional acts including the Williams Family.  In 1984-85 the United States Department of Defense hired Jay to join the band Trans-Mason-Dixon Interplanetary Pickers for an extended concert tour of military sites throughout Asia, northern Africa, and Europe.     From the mid 80's to the mid 90's Jay became more involved with audio production, working the sound system for such well known acts as the Marshall Tucker Band, Captain and Tenille, Neil Sedaka, Frankie Valle and the Four Seasons, and many others.  Although his audio credits extend to many film and video projects, advertising, and studio productions, Jay has always loved performing.  In 1998 when needing a guitarist to accompany him at a festival in Indiana, Jay turned to longtime friend Tom DeVries.  The resulting collaboration rekindled the desire for Jay and Tom to perform together more often and ultimately the creation of the Missing Lynx.  In 2004, The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet chose Jay to play bass for their concert in Grand Rapids.  Jay has performed throughout North America, Europe, Australia, Asia, and Northern Africa.   When Jay is not on the road with the Missing Lynx, you can find him playing bass for 13th Hour, Hawks and Owls, and other Michigan based acts.