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Michael Johnathon | |
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| Born | January 22, 1963 |
| Genres | Folk |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, record producer, author, playwright |
Michael Johnathon is an American folk singer-songwriter, producer, author, and playwright. [1] [2] He has released 20 albums, published 5 books, a play, composed an opera, performs with symphony orchestras and in coffee houses, completed a motion picture script, created three volunteer organizations and tours nationwide.
Originally from the Hudson Valley in New York State, Johnathon moved to the border town of Laredo, TX to work at KLAR-AM. At the urging of folksinger Pete Seeger, Johnathon moved to Mousie, Kentucky in the Appalachian mountains to learn folk tradition and music. He began his folk career performing at schools and fairs and touring with established artists including David Gates, Odetta, Janis Ian, Tom Paxton, Billy Dean and Judy Collins. [3] Johnathon began performing Earth Concerts in schools. In four years, he performed over 3,000 concerts for nearly 2 million people in 14 states. Another series he created was The Passing on the subject of teenage suicide, which he performed at 108 high schools and colleges in 12 weeks, attended by over 250,000 students. Other concert tours were in support of his records and books, farm families (WagonStar), and battered women and children (The Mountain).
He has recorded and released 20 albums on PoetMan Records USA most recently The Painter and "Garden of Silence"studio albums. He has published 6 books including WoodSongs 5 and Mousie HiWay that introduces children to bluegrass music. The audio book of Mousie HiWay was recorded with the McLain Family Band.
Michael also produced and release the "UnXpected" album by 12 year old Phoebe White with Riders In The Sky and the McLain Family Band.
Among his recordings is New Wood recorded and filmed with Odetta and The Dream recorded with a 61-piece symphony orchestra and four children's choirs singing in Russian, English, French, and Spanish. Johnathon has recorded with guest artists including Sam Bush, Rob Ickes, Odetta, Homer Ledford, the McLain Family Band, John Cowan, Michael Cleveland, Guy Davis, JP Pennington, and JD Crowe.
The live album Looking Glass, featuring vocalist Melissa Deaton-Johnathon, was recorded in concert at several theatres from Arkansas to Ireland.
His CD release of SongFarmer was the first national album to be entirely recorded on an iPhone and received the Roots Album of the Year Award by the National Traditional Music Association in 2018.
Johnathon produces the all-volunteer, community-run Troubadour Concert Series [4] at the Lexington Opera House, Kentucky Castle, Lyric Theatre, Kentucky Theater in Lexington, and the Paramount Arts Center in Ashland, Kentucky. By 2018, the volunteer organization produced over 400 concert events with artists including BB King, Steve Martin, Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie, Lindsay Buckingham, Keb Mo, Taj Mahal, Brian Wilson, and Gregg Allman.
Johnathon is the founder, producer and host of the WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour , [5] [6] a folk/roots/Americana multi-media program. [7] The weekly live show from the Lyric Theatre & Cultural Arts Center in Lexington, Kentucky is recorded for broadcast on 537 radio stations, webcasts, and public radio and television. The broadcast is heard by over two million listeners and is carried by the American Forces Radio Network (AFN). The webcast and downloadable archives can be accessed at the Woodsongs website. [8] The TV broadcast reaches an audience of 96 million on public stations nationwide. [9] Some of the hundreds of artists to appear on the broadcast include Tommy Emmanuel, Chris Thile, Judy Collins, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Asleep at the Wheel, Richie Havens, Peter Yarrow, the Avett Brothers, Chris Stapleton, Dr. Ralph Stanley, Elle King, Lee Ann Womack, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Mark O'Connor, Bela Fleck & Abigail Washburn, JD Crowe, Edgar Meyer and Roger McGuinn.
WoodSongs Classroom Programs in partnership with the University of Kentucky makes available at no cost broadcasts of WoodSongs to teachers and homeschools to encourage roots music education.
To commemorate Earth Day, Johnathon wrote the script for the play Walden: The Ballad of Thoreau, performed in over 8,900 colleges, community theatres, high schools and home schools in nine countries. [10] The play is set during the final two days Henry David Thoreau spent at his cabin on Walden Pond and explores the contemporary processes in the protection of the earth and home communities. [11] A film of the play aired nationwide on PBS stations [12] and was awarded a 2009 John Muir Award for Feature Film. [13]
His composition of the songs Front Porch and SongFarmers Blues inspired the creation of the WoodSongs Front Porch Association of SongFarmers. The group brings front porch pickers from around the nation together and has active chapters across the United States.
In October 2018 Johnathon toured with a musical concept called Songs of Rural America. Fully orchestrated, the 17-song concert celebrates rural communities, merging the roots audience with the classical world. The orchestration was written by Michael Johnathon and Joshua Carter. The concert with The Ohio Valley Symphony Orchestra in Gallipolis OH was filmed as a public television special for broadcast on PBS stations nationwide.
In 2020 he released LEGACY, a full length studio album. The title cut is a 9-minute epic that goes from Pete Seeger to Dylan to the collapse of the record industry as we know it. The album also includes two Dylan covers including a total rebuild of Rolling Stone. [14]
In 2021 he recorded and released the full length album, The Painter. He was also selected to receive the important MILNER AWARD from the Governor of Kentucky. His next book WoodSongs 5 is planned June 2021, dedicated to Vincent van Gogh and includes "The Painter" album.
In 2022 his 19th album, AFTERBURN was released
Coming in 2023 will be Michael Johnathon's 20th album release GARDEN OF TIME, the release of the next 176-page book WOODSONGS 6 and the national broadcast of a new television program called WOODSONGS KIDS
His latest project is the motion picture screenplay, "CANEY CREEK: The Legend of Alice Lloyd" and another screenplay called "THE PAINTER" about Vincent van Gogh.
Walden is a book by American transcendentalist writer Henry David Thoreau. The text is a reflection upon the author's simple living in natural surroundings. The work is part personal declaration of independence, social experiment, voyage of spiritual discovery, satire, and—to some degree—a manual for self-reliance.
Pentangle are a British folk band, formed in London in 1967. The original band was active in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and a later version has been active since the early 1980s. The original line-up, which was unchanged throughout the band's first incarnation (1967–1973), was Jacqui McShee (vocals); John Renbourn ; Bert Jansch ; Danny Thompson ; and Terry Cox (drums).
Odetta Holmes, known as Odetta, was an American singer, actress, guitarist, lyricist, and civil rights activist, often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". Her musical repertoire consisted largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and spirituals. An important figure in the American folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s, she influenced many of the key figures of the folk-revival of that time, including Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Mavis Staples, and Janis Joplin. In 2011 Time magazine included her recording of "Take This Hammer" on its list of the 100 Greatest Popular Songs, stating that "Rosa Parks was her No. 1 fan, and Martin Luther King Jr. called her the queen of American folk music."
Liam Clancy was an Irish folk singer from Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary. He was the youngest member of the influential folk group the Clancy Brothers, regarded as Ireland's first pop stars. They achieved global sales of millions and appeared in sold-out concerts at such prominent venues as Carnegie Hall and the Royal Albert Hall.
Thomas Makem was an Irish folk musician, artist, poet and storyteller. He was best known as a member of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. He played the long-necked 5-string banjo, tin whistle, low whistle, guitar, bodhrán and bagpipes, and sang in a distinctive baritone. He was sometimes known as "The Bard of Armagh" and "The Godfather of Irish Music".
Jean Ruth Ritchie was an American folk singer, songwriter, and Appalachian dulcimer player, called by some the "Mother of Folk". In her youth she learned hundreds of folk songs in the traditional way, many of which were Appalachian variants of centuries old British and Irish songs, including dozens of Child Ballads. In adulthood, she shared these songs with wide audiences, as well as writing some of her own songs using traditional foundations.
Alasdair Roberts is a Scottish folk musician. He released a number of albums under the name Appendix Out and, following the 2001 album The Night Is Advancing, under his own name. Roberts is also known for his frequent collaborations with other musicians and writers, as well as for being a member of the folk supergroup The Furrow Collective.
17 Hippies is a band from Berlin, Germany, playing largely on acoustic instruments, a radically democratic collective of professionals and amateurs. Their music is a confection of various folk influences. They are most popular in their native Germany and France.
John Gerard "Jez" Lowe is an English folk singer-songwriter. Lowe was born and raised in County Durham, in a family with Irish roots. He is known primarily for his compositions dealing with daily life in North-East England, particularly in his hometown of Easington Colliery. He attended St Francis RC Grammar School in nearby Hartlepool and later studied languages at Sunderland Polytechnic. He performs both as a solo artist and with his backing band, The Bad Pennies. In addition to singing his songs, Lowe accompanies himself and The Bad Pennies on guitar, harmonica, cittern, and piano.
The WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour is a radio program created, produced, and hosted by folksinger Michael Johnathon.
Odetta Sings Dylan is an album by American folk singer Odetta, issued by RCA Victor in 1965. It consists of covers of Bob Dylan songs.
"But Beautiful" is a popular song with music written by Jimmy Van Heusen, the lyrics by Johnny Burke. The song was published in 1947.
The American folk music revival began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Josh White, Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Big Bill Broonzy, Billie Holiday, Richard Dyer-Bennet, Oscar Brand, Jean Ritchie, John Jacob Niles, Susan Reed, Paul Robeson, Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey and Cisco Houston had enjoyed a limited general popularity in the 1930s and 1940s. The revival brought forward styles of American folk music that had in earlier times contributed to the development of country and western, blues, jazz, and rock and roll music.
Odetta's discography is large and diverse, covering over 50 years and many record labels.
Gonna Let It Shine: A Concert for the Holidays, is a live album by American folk singer Odetta, released in 2005. It was recorded at Fordham University in New York City for a public radio broadcast.
The Essential Odetta is a live album by American folk singer Odetta, originally released on LP in 1973.
Oscar Brand was a Canadian-born American folk singer-songwriter, radio host, and author. In his career, spanning 70 years, he composed at least 300 songs and released nearly 100 albums, among them Canadian and American patriotic songs. Brand's music ran the gamut from novelty songs to serious social commentary and spanned a number of genres.
The Walden Woods Project (WWP) is a nonprofit organization located in Lincoln, Massachusetts, devoted to the legacy of Henry David Thoreau and the preservation of Walden Woods, the forest around Walden Pond that spans Lincoln and Concord, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1990 by musician Don Henley to prevent two development projects in Walden Woods. Its mission has since expanded from conservation to research and education on the works of Henry David Thoreau. In 1998, the Thoreau Institute at Walden Woods was founded as part of the Project; today its library houses a collection of Thoreau-related resources.
The Down Hill Strugglers, previously known as the Dust Busters, is an American old-time string band trio from Brooklyn, New York, United States. Formed in 2008, the band has been influenced by the music that came out of rural America, including Appalachian traditions, music from the Deep South, and the Western States. The band was originally made up of Craig Judelman, Eli Smith, and Walker Shepard. In 2012, Craig Judelman left the Dust Busters and was replaced by multi-instrumentalist Jackson Lynch. At that time, the band changed its name to the Down Hill Strugglers.
Stormy Weather is a live compilation album by various artists released by The Isis Fund in 1998. The record was produced by Don Henley as part of the Walden Woods Project, with which Henley is associated. It features ten covers of songs, all by different female musicians, and was funded by AT&T and the Thoreau Institute. The CD was issued solely to longtime customers of AT&T and included complimentary and downloadable internet access software. Stormy Weather received three out of a five stars from AllMusic and was received favorably by Frank Tortorici of Sonic.net.
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