John Egenes

John Egenes: [A Picker’s picker, a songwriter’s songwriter]

John Egenes is an intrinsic part of the strong legacy handed down by songwriters of the American Southwest. From Santa Fe, New Mexico, Egenes has spent his years on the road and in the studio backing some of the best representatives of the craft.

An excellent guitar player, he is also a first class multi-instrumentalist (acoustic and electric guitars, mandolin, bass, mandola, mandocello, dobro, pedal steel, fiddle, lap steel, piano, accordion, harmonica, cuatro, musical saw), and has performed and recorded with a range of artists that includes Eliza Gilkyson, Bill & Bonnie Hearne, Tish Hinojosa, Gary P. Nunn, Christine Albert, Jono Manson, Arrow Memphis, Frank Reckard, John Ware, Mark Andes, Tom Adler, Jill Stevenson, Jaime Michaels, The Buckarettes, and many others. Also an award-winning producer, Egenes seems to be at ease wearing a number of musical hats, in and out of the recording studio.

He has shared the stage with an amazing variety of musicians, the likes of Guy Clark, Lyle Lovett, Nanci Griffith, Townes van Zandt, Lynn Anderson, Pete Seeger, Bonnie Raitt, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Jerry Jeff Walker, John Hiatt, Robert Earl Keen, Hoyt Axton, The Amazing Rhythm Aces, Greg Brown, Ian Tyson, Leo Kotke, and Iris Dement, to name a few.

Now living in Dunedin, John is lending his chops to the music of New Zealanders on stage and in the recording studio, including artists such as Kylie Harris, Anji Sami, The Verlaines, Hannah Curwood, the Oxo Cubans, Hannah Howes, and others. As a songwriter, John’s songs are at once approachable, literate, and smart. He is equally at home composing for string quartets or writing songs about rodeo cowboys.

He is a long time road warrior, and he takes us with him on trips through musical landscapes that shine with the light of his humour, insights and quirky multi-instrumental figures. He's a uniquely talented man who comes at us from a slightly skewed angle, looking at life through a windshield full of squashed bugs.

So if you’re looking to find out what folk music from the American Southwest is
all about, check out what this guy does. You won’t be sorry.