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

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

Today (Jan. 11) is the Anniversary of the Recording of Living Is Trying

Four years ago today we recorded what became the essential framework of what is now the album Living Is Trying. Here's a little behind-the-scenes of that day. Maybe you remember some of these photos from my social media, or maybe you're seeing all of these for the first time. 
One thing that struck me that I hadn't remembered is how many different guitars I used to track the various songs. There was that Old Kraftstman, which is the first picture here ("Madison"), my Martin (a lot of the others), Steffen's acoustic guitar, which I think was a Johnson ("Strong Words"), some classical guitar that was lying around (the second guitar on "Left Arm"), and my old Sigma ("On Wings"). 

Enjoy.

-John