John was Ron Olesko’s guest artist on the May 10, 2009 program of “Traditions,” the long-running (and excellent) folk music show Ron alternates hosting with Bill Hahn of WFDU.FM. This “Mother’s Day” visit included live performances of “See Alice,” “The Gift,” “Joshua,” and “The Folk Singer’s Sweet Bye-and-Bye” from John’s latest CD, “Side Effects.” In addition to these songs, John performed the Jimmie Rodger’s classic, “Mother, the Queen of My Heart,” in honor of his own late mother, and mothers everywhere. Over the course of the past year, John was contacted by Fred Pape, one of the members of “The New London Trio,” a group John belonged to during the mid-60’s. Fred had sent John a CD of some of their old songs, and–for a touch of folk nostalgia– Ron played “Chilly Winds” and “Make me a Pallet on Your Floor” from this old recording John had not even known existed! This was John’s third appearance on “Traditions,” the show on which he introduced his 9\/11 ballad, “Remember Me.” Ron was kind enough to describe John as “a marvelous songwriter in the tradition of Tom Lehrer.” This website will soon be posting a podcast of the program, so please be on the lookout for it. (In the meantime–for those not yet familiar with John’s music–samples may be heard by clicking on either of the two CDs pictured below.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
John was Ron Olesko’s guest artist on the May 10, 2009 program of “Traditions,” the long-running (and excellent) folk music show Ron alternates hosting with Bill Hahn of WFDU.FM. This “Mother’s Day” visit included live performances of “See Alice,” “The … Continue reading