….John is a retired, 73 year old accountant who has taken up performing and writing classic country music. He found this passion while at the Merritt Mountain music festival some ten years ago. And it is now an integral part of his daily life.
Having had an appreciation for music all his life, John finally got the bug to dust off his guitar that had been sitting in the closet for forty five years, and get on with it.
He grew up in northern BC during the 50’s and 60’s listening to the old country tunes of Hank Williams and Jimmy Reeves but was drawn away by the British Invasion of rock and roll. Luckily, in his perspective, Mr. Dwight Yoakam brought him back into the country fold during the 1990’s. This is where he now resides. His love is the classic country songs from the early 1900’s right up to some of the new country music of today.
John’s greatest passion is the playing and performing of country music. John’s greatest reward is to see someone appreciating his offering by singing along or just tapping their toes.
The journey started with learning the Willie Nelson (his hero) classic, Blue Eyes Cryin’ in the Rain. John’s first performance was playing this song for a friend at a music festival. Quietly and just one on one. The next step was to perform at open mic events around Victoria. This took a couple of years to accomplish but this step took this adventure to putting together an eight piece band for a local dance. When stepping up to the mic for the first time as a leader of a band, John thought “this is where I belong”. He deeply appreciates the advice and support he has received from many incredibly talented musicians he now calls friends.
Over the next few months, John plans to record a CD of his original tunes with more to follow as new tunes are written. Perhaps one day going John will go on tour with his band Bad Ox to share his music with the world.
