Jon T. Howard
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Jon T. Howard

| INDIE

| INDIE
Band Americana Singer/Songwriter

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"Easy Rider"

Laid back and heartfelt - Easy Rider Magazine


"Easy Reader"

Rootsy melodic pop-rock a la Tom Petty, The Eagles and Dire Straits - Easy Reader Magazine


"Shadow Band"

Jon is an acoustic guitar/harmonica style Folk balladeer with a soulful and wistful vibe - Shadow Band


"His album is aptly titled Time For Something New, because it does, indeed, have a fresh sound."

“His album is aptly titled Time For Something New, because it does, indeed, have a fresh sound. The softly crunchy production of this single and lead-off track is an audio delight. About midway through, he double-tracks his vocal for an extra ear-catching effect. If country doesn’t embrace this, Americana programmers surely will.” Robert K. Oermann Music Row/Billboard Magazine - Music Row/Billboard


"An album I believe Johnny Cash might have loved if he were still alive"

On permanent repeat for me all this past week, the aptly titled Time for Something New by Jon T. Howard is an album I believe Johnny Cash might have loved if he were still alive. Everything Bruce Springsteen and John Mellencamp still wish they had in 'em, this talented, Austin, Tex.-based, wrong-side-of-the- tracks seed is akin to a poetic spiritual stepchild of Mark Lanegan, Bruce Cockburn, John Trudell and Tom T. Hall. One cover closes out the set, a spot-on sweet caress through the classic chestnut "What a Wonderful World." And if you don't like that song, you ain't got a heart. Interested? Look for it on the Mettafour/Kindred Rhythm imprint….. CityBeat Cincinnati BY John M. James - Cincinnati City Beat


"Soulful/Political"

“Soulful/ Political -- good stuff!” Gregg McVicar - Host/UnderCurrents/NV1 - UnderCurrents Radio


"Flavor similar tthe music of Steve Earle & Lucinda Williams"

“Howard paints pictures in his tales of America’s soft white underbelly populated by dreamers & schemers. He illuminates his songs with intimate details and his melodies combine bluesy changes with a rustic alt. country flavor similar to the music of Steve Earle & Lucinda Williams” – Vintage Guitar Magazine - Vintage Guitar Magazine


"Aching Vocals"

“Album storms with aching vocals and crosscutting riffs” John Shelton Country Sound Roundup/Top 21 - Country Sound Roundup


"With his introspective songs and husky voice, Howard’s a thoughtful troubadour who has many sad tales to tell"

While Jon T. Howard has plenty of insight about soul-searching and painful truths we all encounter, he admits that "life’s no bed of roses." His songs don’t always have happy endings, but that is part of his charm and appeal. He crafts them with lyrics to document heartbreak, conflict, trouble and turmoil. With his introspective songs and husky voice, Howard’s a thoughtful troubadour who has many sad tales to tell. - Joe Ross


"Radio Stations Playing Jon T. Howard"

Jon T. Howard is being played on radio stations across the country including:

KUT – Austin, TX KXCI – Tucson, AZ
WHFC-Bel Air, MD WTMD-Towson, MD
WNTI-Hackettstown, NJ WFIT-New York, NY
WRUR-FM-Rochester, NY WAER-Syracuse, NY
WVOD – Wanchese, NC KBAC-Santa Fe, NM
KTAO-Taos, NM KGLP – Gallup, NM
KVNF-Paonia, CO KDNK – Carbondale, CO
WCBE-Columbus, OH WRKF – Baton Rouge, LA
KSMF-Ashland, OR KRVM-Eugene, OR
KBOO-Portland, OR WVMR – Dunmore, WV
KOPB – Portland, OR KSER-Lynnwood, WA
KSER – Seattle, WA KGLT – Bozeman, MT
KCBX-San Louis Obispo, CA Z107-Joshua Tree, CA
XMU - Satellite Radio Undercurrents/NV1-Walnut Creek, CA

- Cash Edwards


Discography

Time For Something New - LP (release date 6/12/07)
Americana - LP
Dreaming Of America - Lp
Dance Of Life - LP
Christopher's Daddy - LP (Children's)

Photos

Bio

“My dad went to prison when I was three, and my mom bought my first guitar with green stamps”.

Born in St. Charles, Missouri, Jon T Howard grew up the hard way. Few songwriters have lived to tell the tales that Howard serenely lays to paper and song. Romantic and masculine, bluesy-bitter and folksy-forgiving, wise and foolish; his understated and unvarnished lyrics cut to the heart of Howard’s complex soul. With the release of his newest CD, ‘Time For Something New’ on Mettafour Records, Howard, at a musical watershed in his life, puts it simply, ‘I’m making peace with the past.’ In his uncompromisingly honest music and gravelly voice, discerning listeners will detect a psyche at war with a lifetime of train wrecks witnessed. Howard: ‘The album is a bookend of what I’ve lived through and been a witness to.’ Jon’s love of his mother despite her turbulent marriage and her struggle with his stepfather’s addiction is the backbone for ‘Throw Another Penny;’ one of Jon’s strongest songs.

When Howard was a teenager his family moved to Chicago, and it was there that Jon began singing in a local bar band and composing songs. ‘I was the youngest member, and we were playing in all of these bars. My mom had to walk me in.’ Chicago stirred the blues in Howard’s soul. ‘I really liked Junior Wells, Muddy Waters and James Cotton, they have had big influence on my harmonica playing.’

While still in high school, Jon’s family once again relocated, this time to Dallas. A difficult move at the time but a blessing in disguise, the diverse musical influences of Texas would become a defining ingredient of Howard’s songwriting. While in Dallas, Jon started a new working band that focused on funk and R&B. “My personal taste ran to R&B, I wanted to do Marvin Gaye type songs – few had forged that path as a blue-eyed soul singer. However, ‘The powers that be’ had a different idea for me.’ Indeed. The 6’1” Jon’s good looks offered other options. ‘I modeled to pay my rent.’ As a print model, he traveled to the Caribbean Islands, Barbados, London, Milan, Spain and France. It allowed me to see the world.’ Jon wound up in London recording a “soul” record with noted producers Danny Puku and Bob Carter.

Back in the U.S.A. Jon moved to LA where he honed his songwriting craft with hit songwriters Gene Black and Monty Byrom. Howard then joined the controversial L.A. Funk/Rap/Thrash group Ku De Tah. The L.A. Music Awards acknowledged him for his hard-hitting lyrics on “Fish Outta Water” and “15 to 1.” Howard recalls; ‘It was an angry, politically-charged band and it eventually took it’s toll on us”.

Leaving the band to pursue something closer to his heart, he started writing acoustic songs with Infectious Groove’s Adam Siegel; then turned his attention to the making of his debut solo album, 1996’s ‘Americana.’

In 1997, Jon’s son Christopher was born. This caused him to refocus his goals and priorities. Jon spent time at home writing songs for the films; ‘Defying Gravity’ and ‘Civility.’ In 2000, he released a CD with 18 children’s songs called Christopher’s Daddy. Two more self produced CD’s followed; ‘Dreaming of America ‘and ‘Dance of Life.’ Jon T. Howard has walked life’s battlefield, without losing a limb. He knows where the land mines are buried, and he’s come out intact. Howard tempts you to step out in risk, just to see how it feels. Jon’s lyrics exalt the option to participate in life.
His musical heroes include Bob Marley, John Lennon and U2’s Bono ‘For seeing the world in a greater light,’ Jon: ‘I also feel the need to do more. You can’t save the world as a whole but you save one human at a time, and hope you can be a positive influence. I like to believe in and try to find the good in all’.

But first you have to save yourself. As an album, ‘Time For Something New’ is an ironic culmination of Jon’s emotional journey and acknowledgement of his own demons.
Jon’s addiction is not to alcohol, drugs, or even tobacco. Clean as a whistle, the athletic, Harley riding Howard’s personal struggle has been with love. Howard groans; ‘Oh, I’ve been there. Still am. ‘La Da Dee, La Da Doe’ says it all...love will break your stride if you let it.’ Married three times, Howard is sublimely qualified to comment on messy matters of the heart as heard in his songs ‘Time For Something New.’ and “Sometimes It’s Love”
That said, Howard is an eternal optimist who believes in the virtues of love and lives life to the fullest.

Jon T swirls in gritty reality. But, do not mistake the laid back tone of his music for a lack of poignancy. He paints vivid pictures of heartache, loss and redemption in “Potterville” and “In The Eyes of Love”. His ability to let go and heal from all the turbulance and pain of his family life is heard in ‘A Walk in the Park.’ ‘Throw Another Penny’ brilliantly illustrates how he turns suffering into song.

This art form demands raw honesty. No great singer songwriter can keep a secret; they owe