April May Tour success! Summer is here!

I had an amazing tour with the wonderful Jen Lane and her amazing band. Jen’s new album “This Life of Mine” was released on Feb 26th, 2016 and hit #1 on the National Folk/Roots/Blues charts in March. It is a fantastic record and if you haven’t heard it yet you should do yourself a solid and check it out at her website!

We embarked on a Canadian CD release tour that took us from Vancouver to Montreal and I got to open most of the shows along the way, including having a double slot for our residency at the wonderful Cameron House in Toronto. Playing a solo 6-8 spot there gave me the chance to test out some new material that I’ve been working on. I’m getting ready to record a new Smokekiller record and I’m very excited about the team we are working with.

Ryan Dahle (Age of Electric, Mounties, Limblifter) will be helping me to record my best tunes for a new album. I am over the top excited about working with Ryan and I know that he will take my stuff to the next level. The band and I have been working hard getting the arrangements down and I haven’t had this much fun playing music in a long time!

The band and I will be at the DogPatch Music Festival in Whelan, SK, August 5,6, to test out the new material live. I’ll also be playing with the Jen Lane band at Ness Creek, Gateway, and DogPatch, so there be a lot of summer fun happening around our house!

Hope to see you at a show!
john

2015 ISC SEMI-FINALIST!

Great news from the 2015 International Songwriting Competition, “The Way Home” from the album,Jen & John, is a semi-finalist in the Folk / Singer-Songwriter category. You can check out the song at this link to a Southern Souls video Jen Lane and I made in Toronto at the Cameron House! I feel very fortunate to get any recognition for song-writing as it’s why I do what I do. The ISC has been very kind to me the last few years with “Chicago” 2013 Semi-finalist, and “End of the World” 2014 Semi-finalist! I look forward to sharing new music this year but first up is a National tour with my girl, Jen Lane. Jen just released the best record ever called “This Life of Mine” and we had a couple great cd release shows in Regina and Saskatoon. You can pick up the new Jen Lane album on iTunes here and physically at CDBaby here! You can also get a copy in Saskatoon at McNally Robinson on 8th Street and the Vinyl Diner on Broadway.

Writing songs, booking tours, and in the studio!

Why hello there 2016! Figured I better get caught up and get posting on the ol’ website! It’s been a busy year so far and we are only in the middle of February! Thanks to FACTOR Canada and Creative Saskatchewan for supporting our trip into the studio at the beginning of January. I’ve been holding onto some heavy songs with a solid rock vibe and life decided that it was time for me to get them out of my head and into your ears! Thanks to Enver Hampton (bass) and Billy Tataryn (drums) for taking on the project with me. Their youthful energy is super apparent on the recordings, and they’ve inspired the hell out of me. We took the songs that we recorded and have reapplied for support for a full album. Finger crossed we can take it to the next level with FACTOR and Creative Sask, but as always, we’re going to make a record one way or another. All we really need is me, and you!

Things have been incredibly busy with my partner in life, Jen Lane, as of late too. She’s been dropping video bombs left and right and her new album is going to hit the streets on February 26th! Check out her website at www.jenlane.com for more details! I’ll be playing with Jen for her CD release shows on Feb 26th at the Artful Dodger in Regina and Feb 27th at the Bassment in Saskatoon. Click on the venues for tickets, or again, go to Jen’s website for more info! Have a great week, and we’ll talk to you soon. Lots more great news coming in the near future so stay tuned!
john

November Tour, New Website, New Songs coming soon!

Hey gang,

Hope everyone is having a fantastic November! Jen Lane and I are out in Ontario and Quebec on tour at the moment, check the tour dates tab for more details. We are back at the Cameron House for a residency Tuesday nights from 8pm-10pm. We are doing it a bit different this time, with me opening solo for a short set and then a FULL BAND Jen Lane set!! Yup, Del Cowsill (bass), Pat Phillips (drums), and Kevin Neal (pedal steel) have been joining us for a full set of Jen Lane songs. It’s sounds amazing. Hope you can come and check it out. I’ve changed themes on my website, still trying to find the right one for me. Gonna play around with this one for a while. Been so busy lately that I haven’t really had a proper update for too long, so here it is for now! : )  I also wanted to thank FACTOR for their support for Smokekiller to go into the studio in January 2016 to record some new demos. I’m very excited to share what I’ve been working on with you. I also want to thank Creative Saskatchewan for their support through touring, marketing, and recording. It’s an amazing level of support that is helping all the provincial talent put their best foot forward.
Have a great week and we’ll talk again very soon!
john

JEN & JOHN SUMMER TOUR UPDATE!

Hope everyone is having a great spring and getting ready for a great summer. Jen Lane and I have been busy working on plans for her album release in early 2016, writing new songs for the next “Duets” album and mixing some songs I recorded at Bottega last October. whew! Good to be busy. Thanks to the Cameron House for the wonderful hospitality this past May and the Saskatchewan Arts Board for making the trip possible. Our May/November residency is really growing and we’re excited to get back there later this year! First things first, Jen and I will be heading out west in support of the “Jen & John” album starting with Regina at Creative City Centre this Saturday June 20th! We’ll be joined by Kirby Criddle for the Behind the Songs Series, check out the event here. I’ll be doing some stage managing at MosoFest, Ness Creek, and Gateway, so maybe I’ll see some of you there. Jen and I hit the road again on July 27th out West to Salt Spring Island. Be sure to check the Tour Dates tab for all the details. That’s all for now.
john

Off and running in 2015! Thank yous and more, plus upcoming residency in May at the Cameron!

Hey kids,

It’s been a crazy year already! 2015 is shaping up to be a great opportunity for Jen Lane and I to continue to build on the momentum of the “Jen & John” duets album and also work on writing some new songs together. We’d like to thanks Creative Saskatchewan for the support through the Performing Arts Touring Program which made our cd release tour possible. We would also like to thank SaskMusic for the support through their Demo Recording grant which got Jen and I into the studio together for the 1st time. That was really our good friend Derek Bachman pushing us in that direction, as he always thought that we should focus our efforts on one combined project. I appreciate you believing in us D-Rawk, and I hope that we can continue to make you proud with everything that we do. We can’t forget the Saskatchewan Arts Board, who have been incredibly supportive of our songwriting efforts and without whom we could not do this full time. Jen Lane and I will be back on the road this May when we return to the Cameron House for a month long residency. We are moving to Tuesdays 8pm-10pm, which will help us really pack the place, and also let us share the night with our good friends, The Sinner’s Choir (10pm-close). Jen and I will also take some time this year to develop more material through co-writes so that “Jen & John 2” will be more of a collaboration than collection of songs. We’ve already got the covers picked out! Thanks for keeping up with the news and we’ll chat again soon!  John

NOVEMBER TOUR IN ONTARIO AND QUEBEC!

Hey folks! Jen Lane and I are back on the road and playing all over Ontario and Quebec for the next 3 weeks. We are so glad to be back at the Cameron House in Toronto every Wednesday from 6pm-8pm. Jen will also be hosting Chick Pickin Mondays November 10th, 17th, and 24th at Grumpy’s Bar in Montreal. It’s gonna be a lot of driving and a lot of fun too. Thanks to Creative Saskatchewan for their support of the tour, SaskMusic for assisting us in making the “Jen & John” album, and the Saskatchewan Arts Board for giving us the opportunity to create our strongest work to date. Hope to see you at at show, you can click on the links above to learn more about the wonderful support we have as well as a link to the new album on iTunes. Thanks to our good friend Darcy Windover for the photo!
john

HAVING A NICE BREAK BETWEEN TOURS!

What a great run of shows across Western Canada! Thanks so much to my wonderful partner, Jen Lane, all the venues, and all the wonderful people who came out and supported our shows. Jen and I are about to disappear into the Bottega Studio in Kelowna, BC and record the hell out of some songs we’ve been working on. We should see a new Jen Lane album in 2015 for sure, and maybe we’ll sneak in a few Jen&John II songs, and maybe even some smokekiller! It’s just going to be nice to get away to work on some music. November is just around the corner and then we get crazy busy again. Jen Lane and I will be at the Cameron House every Wednesday from 6pm-8pm this November. Jen will also be hosting Chick Pickin Mondays in Montreal for the month. Sprinkle in a little Kingston and Ottawa, and a few more spots yet to be announced, and you’ve got the makings of a great month on the road. None of this would be possible without the financial assistance of Creative Saskatchewan, Sask Music, and the Saskatchewan Arts Board. We as musicians are so lucky to have such a great support system in the province right now. Tour dates will be posted soon!

john

photo by Borja Moncunill

“JEN & JOHN” ON SALE AUGUST 19TH, 2014 – FULL CANADIAN TOUR BEGINS AUGUST 19TH, 2014

 

August 15th, 2014
Well it’s that time again. Jen Lane and I have finished our duets album and we are ready to hit the road to share with you. We start off at the Ironwood in Calgary on the release date, and then we head out to Music On The Mountain in Fort St. James, BC. Excited to see some good music there and some great friends, the likes of Darcy Windover and Steve Brockley! See you soon fellas. After MOMfest we head out to Salt Spring Island for a few shows before we come back to the mainland and play Cafe Deux Soleils in Vancouver on September 5th. That’s the beginning of the way home and we zig zag across BC and Alberta until we get to Saskatoon for our homecoming show at the Bassment. Hope to see you at a show along the way. Check the Tour Dates tab or the About tab to see where you can find us over the next month. Thanks to SaskMusic, the Saskatchewan Arts Board, and Creative Saskatchewan for all the support with this project and over the years. I feel very fortunate to be able to create music and share it with all of you. So thank you again and we’ll see you on the road! 

john

Tuesdays in July at Bon Temps and making records!

Jen Lane and I are playing a residency at Bon Temps Cafe, 223 2nd Ave S in Saskatoon! We play every Tuesday in July (1,8,15,22,and 29) two sets starting at 630pm and 8pm. We are giving away movie tickets to the Broadway Theatre, it’s Happy Hour all night long, and we are playing some new songs that will appear on our duets album (Aug 19), Jen’s next album (March 2015) and my next album (Sept 2015). Come down for “date night” or “movie night” or just for dinner and some drinks. We had a great time last Tuesday and this week is shaping up to be even better! Speaking of making records, thanks to SaskMusic for giving Jen and I the opportunity to demo some new songs in the studio. We’ve been hanging out with Josh Palmer (the Rebellion) at his home studio, The Recording House. The results have been amazing and I can’t wait to share it with you. We have a cd release tour booked for the “Jen and John” album that begins on Aug 19th at the Ironwood in Calgary, AB. Full tour dates up soon!