Bethany Johnson - “Down by the Willows”

Bethany and Dallas Johnson made a record of my song “Down by the Willows” which I’m eager to share with you. I’ve known these people for over half my life. In fact, Dallas was running sound for the open mic I made my first performance at in the basement of the Purdue Student Union. Bethany played violin on an early recording of this very song which Wes DeBoy made for us in Muncie, Indiana.

Later, Dallas and Bethany were married and would invite me to their Music Sunday gatherings at the Greene’s where I would learn their songs. Sometimes Benjamin Ezra, The Sears Tower of Folk Music, would be there too. I have warm feelings associated with those memories.

Dallas mixed most of my first album In a Whelming Tide and engineered my second album Living Is Trying.

I heard Bethany and Dallas perform “Down by the Willows” in the side room at The Black Sparrow. It shone like a diamond in my mind. That was back before kids and careers.

Then I started this label Late Bloomer as a home for other people’s sound recordings of some of my compositions. Naturally, Bethany and Dallas were among the first people I thought of to ask to record. They shipped the kids off to Wolcott for a the weekend and invited Andy Dommer and Caleb Benner over to play bass and drums. Caleb played bass on Living Is Trying if you’ll remember.

This family has been interwoven in my life for years and I’m pleased and proud to present this recording to you. It’s a big part of the sound of my youth and now my new adulthood and it feels like home.

Hell yes. Please enjoy.

-John

Summer Nightwind (demo) exclusive for Bandcamp subscribers

I released a demo of my song “Summer Nightwind” to subscribers on bandcamp. If you’d like it, become a monthly supporter for $5, $10, or $25/mo to get access to back catalog material and exclusive demos.

"Left Arm" by Steffen Prentiss Yazvac

LISTEN / DOWNLOAD: bandcamp / iTunes / Spotify / Amazon / youtube

On January 26th, 2021 I released “Left Arm” again. This time it’s Steffen Prentiss Yazvac performing it (please follow him). It’s percussive and Steffen took surprising liberties with the phrasing. His singing, which has always been dynamic, hits a new level here. It’s satisfying to hear Steffen’s take on this song because of our collaboration on Living Is Trying. I presented the idea of that song being the opener on that album and described how I wanted it to sound. Steffen understood it and made it sound just like I had it in my head. That’s been our working relationship since we were kids.

A while ago I started thinking about what other forms I’d like to see some of my songs take. I had some memories from the road of playing songs my friends had written. A “friendship covers” album had always been in the back of my mind. I even started recording some with Steffen once. I decided it would be a good start to ask some of my friends to come up with a recording of one of my songs that resonated with them.

I’m proud of this song and how it’s grown. I feel proud of Steffen as my friend for taking something I made and making it his and making it better. The production is superb. Steffen used a new analog synthesizer and the tone reminds me of a trombone on some parts. His drumming and bass playing dance closely together. The guitar playing oscillates between rock strumming, staccato picking, and delicate grooving. All well placed. Dallas Johnson provides the breaths between on the electric piano.

I hope you enjoy this many times over like I have.

-John

Toss Your Javelin

Toss Your Javelin has been germinating for years. The third long playing album by John Davey is a collection of maxims and self-injunctions set to memory evoking melodies.

A black and white photo taped to a wall in Kansas City, the spiny ridge along Chimney Tops in Eastern Tennessee, the train station platform in Lansing in the dreary rain, neck craned to see the parade down Washington Street on the 4th of July, mammoth Ore Boats chugging in and out of Upper Harbor from all over the Great Lakes. This collage is the running start which throws the weighted dart.

”Lower Tiers” is the centerpiece of the album. Its arrangement borrows pages from The Great American Songbook, seeking common ground with 20th century greats Irving Berlin, Paul Simon, and Randy Newman.
The bookends of the album are the newest compositions, “Q” and “Boreal Lullaby”, both fruits of a tree transplanted. “Q” is the disentanglement of overlaying personalities and the proper identification of a newly emerging self. “Boreal Lullaby” is both old and new. It’s the hymn we hummed in church. It’s the subject of a trial, a lamentation, a psalm.
”Hard Times, Strong Men” is the outlier. Pulsating and fuzzy and rhythmic. It’s Jules Vern, Robert Louis Stevenson and George Harrison at a game of craps. Harrison rolls snake eyes. A prophetic warning. A new archetype.

Toss Your Javelin was crowdfunded by 134 generous supporters.

Songs, guitars, and vocals by John Davey
Production, mixing, and arrangement of a variety of instruments performed by Shane Leonard in Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Mastered by TW Walsh in Boston, Massachusetts
Engineering by Evan Middlesworth at Pine Hollow Audio in Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Basses by Jeremy Boettcher
Piano and other keys by Joshua Gallagher

Little Ghost Notes

In the Spring of 2019 I started thinking of ways to try to get my songs in front of more people’s ears and into their heads. One of those ways was to get some other artists to start recording some of my compositions in their own style. I talked to a few people about doing some administrative work in exchange for those recordings.

One of the first people to really jump into the project and make it where the rubber meets the road was my old friend Dustin Sendejas. Dustin and I have known each other since I was a kid and was just starting to play shows. We’ve traveled all over the USA and even some in Canada together, me as a solo act, and Dustin in many different musical iterations from solo songwriter to member and sometimes leader of a big band. He was sort of a mentor to me and showed me new ways of looking at the world and introduced me to some important philosophical concepts that have shaped how I view and interact with the world. It always feels like we’re on an extended hangout when we get to see each other.

As a first label release, I thought it was very fitting that Dustin and I would do something collaboratively. We’ve both been on a long path of delineating where art and commerce merge and this is another building block for each of us in our individual body of work.

Dustin chose my song “Ghost Notes” and we renamed the track “Little Ghost Notes” as a way of cross pollinating his current main project Little Ghost and my song. I’m really happy with the result. I think Dustin did an outstanding job staying true to the composition while infusing his own particular qualities through a couple minor rearrangements. Listen to some other Little Ghost material to catch my drift (the song “The Dark” is a great place to start). Dustin played the acoustic guitar and the electric piano on the track and producer Eric Stanley added electric guitar and backing vocals. There’s a really nice flourish toward the end of the song that’s worth sticking around for. I’ve found myself returning to it frequently since I heard the initial recording.

I’m so pleased to present this to the world and I hope more similar collaborations continue to happen this year and onward!

”Little Ghost Notes” can be purchased and streamed through the player above. You can also stream or download the song on your preferred streaming and downloading platform.
You can listen to my version of the song where I’ve posted it below or, as always, on your preferred streaming or download platform.
Please consider sharing the song on your social media or just play it for your friend in your car while you drive around.

Thanks for the listens.
-John

Red Jacket Jamboree - Summer Solstice Show (6/21/2018)

I'm a little late in getting to this, but a couple weeks ago, Harry South and I drove up to Calumet, Michigan to perform at the Red Jacket Jamboree at the Historic Calumet Theater. Harry was part of the house band The Copper Cats which included Jerry Younce (guitar), Bill Carrothers (piano), Carrie Biolo (percussion), and Harry South (bass). These guys accompanied me on a few songs and it was a real thrill to hear jazz and classical players translate my songs. 
Mean Mary graced the stage for the second part of the show and was a real doll. 

Some highlights were standing on that beautiful old stage, watching the sunset in Copper Country with Carrie Biolo and Harry South, listening to Cole Porter songs with Harry late at night and sharing some of my favorite country songs with him. The Copper Cats did great renditions of "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)", "Don't Fence Me In", and "Up a Lazy River". 
We also had a nice visit to the new Keweenaw Coffee Works the day of the show. The weather was perfect and the whole thing was awfully fun. 

Below is a video of me performing the Billy Hill song "There's a Cabin in the Pines" with Jerry Younce accompanying me on guitar.

Living Bravely On the Edge of a Big Change

Like an unwashed, uncut geode John Davey and the boys crack open this rough, gritty rock to find a sparkly colorful interior. Like every geode, this baby knows it's special on the inside. John Davey - acoustic guitar, vocals Jon “Jonny Negaunee” Letts - electric bass Raymond Little - electric guitar, effects Dennis “Bud” Clowers - drums Tracked and Engineered by Raymond Little and Bud Clowers @ the Letts family camp up past Harlow Lake in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Mixed by Steffen Yazvac @ Steffen Yazvac Audio in Minneapolis, MN Mastered by Matt Whatley @ Combover Mastering in Fort Worth, TX

I was Mad Donna's in East Nashville about to experience Liz Cooper's band play for the first time. This kid who worked in the kitchen who I knew from an open mic at Dino's told me to come out back with him. He wanted to show me his hangout spot. We went into this alley and in between two fenced in backyards there was a little nook with a tree stump in it. This kid (let's call him "Will") Will stood on the stump and produced a glass piece which he loaded up and lit. "I like to stand on this stump. People don't think to look over this way when they drive by." I tried it. I liked it. I love standing on things. Don't ask me why. 
We went back inside in a much more aware-of-details state of mind just in time to catch Liz Cooper & the Stampede roar through their set. I was very moved by it. They're a really good band and Liz's distinctive guitar playing is about to catch on in a big way really soon. 
After the set, I set out walking around this neighborhood in East Nashville, as I was wont to do. I walked about a mile, just ruminating on the set I had seen, my ears ringing, feeling inspired. I ended up sitting on a bench, eating a big slice of pizza, and recording this little voice memo in my phone which I still listen to from time to time. I texted this girl Mary from Michigan who I had been crushing on pretty hard (she's my wife now) and told her about my night.

Over the next few days this song "Brave" emerged. I was listening to a lot of Buck Owens & His Bucakaroos and feeling the bracing strength of a life lived according to one's convictions. I was right on the edge of making this big decision to move to Michigan. It was another major life change in such a short amount of time. I felt I was living in fast forward almost. So many things happening all at once. When it rains, it pours. 
I would practice this song while my roommate was at work, the empty apartment to myself and the cat. I would sing it real loud. My drunk neighbor met me outside one day and asked if that was one of my songs he had heard me playing the night before. I said "yeah" and he told me he had a cousin who worked at Capitol Records and he'd pass the song along to him. Classic. 

Fast forward about two and a half years. I'm in Michigan, I'm engaged, I have this band The Ancient Urge and this is one of the first songs we're arranging together. I really like the way it's coming together. It felt a little bit country, a little bit rock 'n roll. In the short-lived career of that band, "Brave" became an internal and crowd favorite. It was short, punchy, rolling, and the band always knocked it out of the park. We loved playing it and recording it out at camp. 

Let this tune be an injunction to find that thing you are pleased with about yourself and amplify it for the edification of yourself and the ones you love. 

-John

The Staying or the Leaving Cup?

I watched this music lesson by Chilly Gonzales on composition for beginners on QRadio a few years ago. Among other wonderful little flashes of insight, the simple idea really struck me of pedaling on a note or one chord, then jotting down whatever melody comes to you that wheels its way around the note being played. That's what got the ball rolling on this song "Leaving Cup". Thanks Chilly, you crazy bastard. 

This was one, lyrically, that took me quite a while to finally get down. I remember singing the very beginnings of it to my friends Anthony and Erin during a recording session in Atlanta during the summer of 2014. The mystery of the line about "her" changing forms and flitting around the room kept pulling me back to the half-written song until it was finished. Of course, this wasn't the first time I played with the concept of shape shifting (here's one example and here's another), but it did reveal to me in the second half of the song what all those shape shifting songs had always been about for me. I read a book called On Truth: the Tyranny of Illusion. It was life changing. I played with a lot of the themes from there in the second half of the song. I strongly recommend the book which you can download for free. 

When I moved to Marquette, Michigan, I started this band with a couple of guys I met during the first few months I lived here. We played, wrote, and learned a bunch of songs together. "Leaving Cup" was one of the first songs I wanted us to arrange all together as a band. We ended up going out into the woods for a whole weekend and recording a bunch of demos, drinking a bunch of beers, playing Frisbee, taking saunas, cooking food, and hiking around a bit. It was a great experience. I wanted to use those live recordings up at camp as the framework for the album we were going to record in a big way later on, but some of the songs turned out so well, that I'm releasing them now. This is one of them. I think this song in particular really showed a lot of the strengths we had as a band in terms of arranging, being locked in together, the writing, and just the general feel and sound as a group. We had a really cool thing going on. Here's a little video our friend Josh put together from that weekend that I'm sort of fond of. You can hear "Leaving Cup" playing during part of it. 

Finally, the fact that my old friends Steffen Yazvac and Matt Whatley came onto this project to mix and master this song is a great joy for me. We all used to live in the same town. I've done many projects with both of them, but this is the first time we've done something all together and it feels so good. I find that as I get older, the most fruitful working relationships are ones which I've had for years that have had time to deepen and mature. 

Love you all. 

-John

The Singles Project

Several years ago I read an article by legendary mastering engineer, Justin Colletti, called Feeding the Machine (it’s long, but worth the read if you’re into that sort of thing). In it, he makes the case for returning to the method of releasing a lot of singles since at the dawn of the music industry, the whole apparatus was kept afloat by a tidal wave of singles, some of which “stuck” in the public consciousness, some of which didn’t. It was one of those paradigm shifting moments for me. I had friends that released singles on occasion, but my heart and mind were really with LP’s. It was the format I knew and connected with so well that doing anything other than that rarely even ever crossed my mind. However, Colletti made such a good case for the regular release of singles, that I’ve carried this concept around in the back of my mind for years, telling myself that when I ever get to the right moment in time and circumstance, I’d begin to do just that.
I happened to read Feeding the Machine at just the moment in time where my years-long road dog experiment was winding down. I fell into one of those chaotic in-between seasons, which happened to last for a few years longer than I expected. There was some upheaval in my relationship with my family, my living circumstances changed, my trusty Ford Escort finally kicked the bucket, I moved from one day job to another, learned a ton of classic country songs, got another car, moved to Tennessee with only a foggy picture of wanting something better and more, worked more day jobs, released a really cool record, fell in love with a girl who lived across the country, packed up and moved again, started adjusting to life in a way different climate and culture, began cultivating this life-long relationship, had a really cool, tumultuous band for a year and a half, played some shows, changed jobs again, got married(!) and finally life seems to be smoothing out a little. I’m out of choppy waters and aimed across a stretch of time fully supplied. That whole time, this little idea of regularly releasing singles kept twirling and dancing in the back of my brain and occasionally suggesting itself to me. Now I’m in a period where I actually have the time and resources and people around me to make it happen in a meaningful way that is satisfying to me creatively and that I can make work for me in a financial sense.
Working with audio engineer Peter Gummerson of Rivulare is a key part of this whole enterprise. He’s a cool guy with a great method who puts his money where his mouth is. We’ve worked really well together so far. I’m also excited to get my drummer Bud from my band The Ancient Urge back on board with me. Bud is a deep well, has a composer’s mind, and is great to bounce ideas off of, not to mention he handily plays numerous instruments and is therefore a treasure trove to tap for anyone in my position. Harold South is a really busy, very serious bass player who’s been making a living off of performing and teaching music for years. I’m getting to know Harold still and I’m excited that he’ll be part of this attempt at feeding the machine. I’m sure the revolving door will keep spinning and I’ll introduce other interesting characters (musicians, visual artists, audio engineers) as we go forward and get more songs in front of you all.
Thank you for joining me and for lending your eyeballs and earballs to this ongoing project.

-John Davey

Demo Recording and Bro Bonding Weekend

This is a little tardy, but a recent weekend trip was put together to do some live tracking of our band and the songs I've written that we've arranged together. Here's some material compiled from that weekend at the Letts family deer camp with John Davey & the Ancient Urge. 

Dinner

Dogtown  

Blue board

Bonfire

Morning Mugs on top of the world. 

Up at The Top of the World

Sauna