Jon Worthy & the Bends

Jon Worthy and his band The Bends play Radio Cafe on November 19th, but in the meantime, they've released a video for their track "Have It Your Way", an indie pop jam featuring fellow Nashville vocalist and songstress Stelle Amor. "Have It Your Way" comes from Worthy's album Only A Dream, which came out earlier this year. The band recorded the video at Front Porch Studios with Amor taking a verse and backing vocals on the chorus. The track is one of a few that Worthy's released as singles from the record; The Deli featured "Help Me" back in August. Worthy's working on the follow-up to Only A Dream now; he released the single "Is It Too Late" in October. Catch him and The Bends playing at Radio Cafe on November 19th, and check out the video for "Have It Your Way" below. - Will Sisskind - The Deli Magazine

"Help Me" is the existential rock jam you've been waiting for. It's the end of summer, and, let's face it, the hot August weather makes us all wonder what the heck we're doing and where on earth time went. Jon Worthy perfectly articulates the existential dread many a millennial seems to experience these days. Who needs a mid-life crisis when you can have a quarter-life crisis, right? With rawness and honesty, Jon Worthy tells that story, and listening to him sing it will make you feel just a little less alone in your own anxieties. Catch him and the band live at the Springwater on 9/5. -Geena Kloeppel - The Deli Magazine

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Jon Worthy confronts the instability of love in his new video for the dreamy rocker "You Drive Me Insane" which finds Worthy as a man living in his car who gets into some trouble before finding his place on the stage, only to wake up back in his car leaving one to wonder if it was real or fantasy.

'I'm starting to feel it for real I can taste it
This feeling of never believing in me
For all of those times that you wanted you never confronted
The person you thought I could be
Oh my how I've waited, I've waited, I've waited" - The Daily Country

With an opening track as charismatically glorious as ‘You Drive Me Insane’ it’s hard not to fall in love with Jon Worthy’s Lo Fi softly raucous album Only A Dream. Sanity (or lack of) seems to be quite a strong recurring theme throughout the album which may be why I found it so easy to develop such a strong affinity. I have an infinite amount of respect for recording artists who let their lyrics run with the creative chaos that echoes around their beautifully deep psyche. Better yet, Jon Worthy encapsulated the creative insanity through his naturally enigmatic talent that allows him to create such succinctly sweet anthemic tracks. Yet no track on the album hit me as hard as the title track Only A Dream, which nods to the disparity within current political disparities. Even the deeper issues that are explored on the track are brought to life through the upbeat jangle of the guitar, that makes Jon Worthy’s sound a pleasure to soak up.

To any fans of Fidlar, Pavement and Lower than Atlantis, Only A Dream is an album you definitely don’t want to miss out on. You can check out John Worthy’s 2018 album which was released January 12th on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast - A&R Factory

Emerging from the shadow of the Grand Ole Opry, there's a new, more eclectic sound coming from Nashville today and with it a youthful new broom sweeping away the centuries of conservative Tennessee values. Opening with a sample of Gil Scott Herons's The Revolution Will Not Be Televised and with a chorus that reminds the disenfranchised that they are not alone, Jon Worthy's Don't Let It Go is a product of a fresh and inclusive new Nashville.

Jon Worthy didn't pick up a guitar for the first time because he wanted to be like Hank Williams or Johnny Cash, but because he saw the Guns N' Roses: Behind The Music documentary on VH1. And he cites influences ranging from classic rock (The Who, The Beatles, The Stones, Led Zeppelin) to punk (The Clash) to grunge rock and metal (Pearl Jam, AC/DC).

Don't Let It Go is an indie-rock-inflected peace anthem and while the lyrics are fairly non-specific, Jon Worthy is not shy about the inspiration for this track from his second full-length album. On its Soundcloud page he's written one sentence: "Fuck Trump and anyone that stands in the way of unity".

"Trump is isolating so many groups of people rather than bringing us together which is not what anyone needs, especially America," he tells me. "We have so many different, original people in this country and Trump continually paints them in a light that is not factual or beneficial to anyone except hate mongers."

Cities need fresh blood if they're going to move forward and as a migrant, Worthy - who grew up in Pennsylvania and went to Penn State before moving to Nashville - credits the city as "a great place to be a liberal musician".

"Moving to the south was a big change," he admits. "Southerners can be very passive aggressive. They shy away from speaking their mind and avoid saying what they really want to say. Recently however, Nashville and in particular the people I hang out with are young, liberal, and worldly. There's a lot of different cultures and ethnicities in Nashville and I think that creates an open minded culture. Moreover, there are hundreds of people moving to Nashville every day and most of them are young and bring a more liberal minded approach to life with them so Nashville is beginning to be a really unique place."

Jon Worthy's optimism is reflected in his work and in comments about music and society. And that's good, because progress only happens when people believe change is possible. But right now, America seems very divided by race and ideology so I asked him what he thinks the future will bring.

"I think it will be tough for America to create positive change during Trump’s tenure due to the fact that he allows so much negativity to spread through his actions and comments," says Worthy. "Trump is so divisive that it seems unlikely the opposing sides can come to a compromise on anything. I do however think his outspoken and divisive nature will give voices to groups that have otherwise lurked in the shadows and give them incentive to tell their story and hopefully sway people away from Trump’s negativity. On the other hand, Trump’s comments and actions have given rise to hate groups as well so that is a double edged sword."

But even in a week when 17 people were killed by a lone gunman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, there is still some cause for positivity because America's youth has shown itself in an astonishingly admirable light.

"Watching the kids of America stand up for gun control in wake of the Florida shooting has been amazing to watch," says Worthy. "I think if us young folks can mount a serious and stabilized campaign for issues we believe in then our chances for change are much greater. The power of social media is great in that it allows people from all over to connect on one common issue and start something amazing like these sit ins happening around the country."

Don't Let It Go comes from the album Only a Dream, the artwork for which features the internationally recognised symbol for peace. The title track is a bitter-sweet, folk rock protest song inspired by John Lennon’s Imagine that wishes for peace and unity but admits that it's folly to expect it ever to come true.

"For the most part we all want the same thing; to be happy and find love," says Jon, explaining the thought process behind Only a Dream. "However, we insist on pushing our different beliefs on people to the point where it turns violent and we end up in this terrible endless circle of violence and corruption... At the end of the day we can only be good to the people we encounter and try to make the world better, but to ask the entire world to treat each other fairly and equally is only a dream and never going to happen."

Jon Worthy's Playlist of Songs to challenge the establishment and change the world:

Imagine by John Lennon

Icky Thump by The White Stripes

Uprising by Muse

Fight for Your Right by The Beastie Boys

Killing in the Name by Rage Against the Machine

Revolution by the Beatles

Suburban Smell by The Districts - Music To Fight Evil To