John Bunzow

Last updated

John Bunzow
Born (1951-05-02) May 2, 1951 (age 69)
Portland, Oregon
Genres Americana
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter
InstrumentsVocals, guitar
Years active1995–present
Labels Liberty, ZoDog, Sideburn
Associated acts Pete Anderson
Website www.johnbunzow.com

John Bunzow (born May 2, 1951 [1] ) is an American country music singer-songwriter. Bunzow was signed to Liberty Records and charted one single on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart.

Contents

Career

Bunzow was signed to Liberty Records (which was then the name of the Nashville subsidiary of Capitol Records) and released his debut single, "Easy as One, Two, Three", in 1995. [2] Deborah Evans Price of Billboard gave the song a favorable review, writing that "Bunzow plays it simple, but keeps things interesting by throwing in some nifty chord-change curves." [3] It peaked at number 69 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart. [1] Liberty planned to release Bunzow's album, Stories of the Years, on May 23, 1995. [4] Pemberton Roach of AllMusic gave the album three stars out of five, calling it "a refreshingly direct, no-nonsense country record that had more in common with Steve Earle's best work than with any dance-club pretty boys." [5] Alanna Nash of Entertainment Weekly gave the album an A grade, writing that Bunzow blends "an amiable tenor with economy of language and the minimalistic production of Dwight Yoakam collaborator Pete Anderson." [6] After Jimmy Bowen left Liberty Records in March 1995 and the label returned to its Capitol Nashville name, the album was shelved and Bunzow was dropped. [7] [8]

Bunzow continued writing and performing. [7] A compilation of material Bunzow wrote for publishing companies in Nashville, Off the Shelf, was released by ZoDog Records in 2000. [9] In 2002, Bunzow recorded an album, Darkness and Light, which was released by independent label Sideburn Records. [7] Bob Gottlieb of AllMusic gave the album four stars out of five, calling it "a strong disc that rips into each new song with a strong ferocity that brings the song home." [10] Bunzow also released a live album, Alive at O'Connor's, in 2004. [9]

Discography

Albums

TitleAlbum details
Off the Shelf
  • Release date: 2000
  • Label: ZoDog Records
Darkness and Light
  • Release date: June 18, 2002
  • Label: Sideburn Records
Alive at O'Connor's
  • Release date: January 17, 2004
  • Label: ZoDog Records

Singles

YearSinglePeak positionsAlbum
US Country
1995"Easy as One, Two, Three"69Stories of the Years(unreleased)

Music videos

YearVideoDirector
1995"Easy as One, Two, Three"Chris Lovett

Related Research Articles

Tracy Lawrence American musician

Tracy Lee Lawrence is an American country music singer, songwriter, and record producer. Born in Atlanta, Texas, and raised in Foreman, Arkansas, Lawrence began performing at age 15 and moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1990 to begin his country music career. He signed to Atlantic Records Nashville in 1991 and made his debut late that year with the album Sticks and Stones. Five more studio albums, as well as a live album and a compilation album, followed throughout the 1990s and into 2000 on Atlantic before the label's country division was closed in 2001. Afterward, he recorded for Warner Bros. Records, DreamWorks Records, Mercury Records Nashville, and his own labels, Rocky Comfort Records and Lawrence Music Group.

Brooks & Dunn American country music duo

Brooks & Dunn is an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, both vocalists and songwriters. The duo was founded in 1990 through the suggestion of Tim DuBois. Before the foundation, both members were solo recording artists. Both members charted two solo singles apiece in the 1980s, with Brooks also releasing an album for Capitol Records in 1989 and writing hit singles for other artists.

Aaron Tippin American country musician and record producer

Aaron Dupree Tippin is an American country music artist and record producer. Initially a songwriter for Acuff-Rose Music, he gained a recording contract with RCA Nashville in 1990. His debut single, "You've Got to Stand for Something" became a popular anthem for American soldiers fighting in the Gulf War and helped to establish him as a neotraditionalist country act with songs that catered primarily to the American working class. Under RCA's tenure, he recorded five studio albums and a Greatest Hits package. Tippin switched to Lyric Street Records in 1998, where he recorded four more studio albums, counting a compilation of Christmas music. After leaving Lyric Street in 2006, he founded a personal label known as Nippit Records, on which he issued the compilation album Now & Then. A concept album, In Overdrive, was released in 2009.

Joe Diffie American country music singer (1958-2020)

Joe Logan Diffie was an American country music singer. After working as a demo singer in the mid 1980s, he signed with Epic Records' Nashville division in 1990. Between then and 2004, Diffie charted 35 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, five of which peaked at number one: his debut release "Home", "If the Devil Danced ", "Third Rock from the Sun", "Pickup Man" and "Bigger Than the Beatles". In addition to these singles, he had 12 others reach the top 10 and ten more reach the top 40 on the same chart. He also co-wrote singles for Holly Dunn, Tim McGraw, and Jo Dee Messina, and recorded with Mary Chapin Carpenter, George Jones, and Marty Stuart.

Pam Tillis American country music singer-songwriter and actress

Pamela Yvonne Tillis is an American country music singer and actress. She is the daughter of country music singer Mel Tillis.

Lorrie Morgan American musician

Loretta Lynn Morgan is an American country music singer. She is the daughter of George Morgan, widow of Keith Whitley, and ex-wife of Jon Randall and Sammy Kershaw, all of whom are also country music singers. Morgan has been active as a singer since the age of 13, and charted her first single in 1979. She achieved her greatest success between 1988 and 1999, recording for RCA Records Nashville and the defunct BNA Records. Her first two RCA albums and her BNA album Watch Me are all certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The 1995 compilation Reflections: Greatest Hits is her best-selling album with a double-platinum certification; War Paint, Greater Need, and Shakin' Things Up, also on BNA, are certified gold.

Matraca Berg American country singer

Matraca Maria Berg is an American country music singer and songwriter. She has released five albums: three for RCA Nashville, one for Rising Tide Records and one for Dualtone Records, and has charted in the top 40 of the U.S. Billboard country charts with "Baby, Walk On" and "The Things You Left Undone," both at No. 36. Besides most of her own material, Berg has written hits for T.G. Sheppard, Karen Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Deana Carter, Patty Loveless, Kenny Chesney and others. In 2008 she was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and in 2018 she received the Poet's Award from the Academy of Country Music Awards.

Shenandoah (band) American country music group

Shenandoah is an American country music band founded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, in 1984 by Marty Raybon, Ralph Ezell, Stan Thorn, Jim Seales, and Mike McGuire. Thorn and Ezell left the band in the mid-1990s, with Rocky Thacker taking over on bass guitar; Keyboardist Stan Munsey joined the line up in 1995, until his departure in 2018. The band split up in 1997 after Raybon left. Seales and McGuire reformed the band in 2000 with lead singer Brent Lamb, who was in turn replaced by Curtis Wright and then by Jimmy Yeary. Ezell rejoined in the early 2000s, and after his 2007 death, he was replaced by Mike Folsom. Raybon returned to the band in 2014. That same year, Jamie Michael replaced the retiring Jim Seales on lead guitar.

<i>Kerosene</i> (album) 2005 studio album by Miranda Lambert

Kerosene is the second and major-label debut studio album by American country artist Miranda Lambert. The album was released March 15, 2005 by Epic Nashville Records and was produced by Frank Liddell and Mike Wrucke. After placing third in the television competition, Nashville Star in 2003, Lambert signed with Epic Nashville in 2004. The album spawned four Top 40 Billboard Country Chart singles; however, only the title track was a major hit, peaking at number 15.

McBride & the Ride

McBride & the Ride was an American country music band initially consisting of Terry McBride, Ray Herndon, and Billy Thomas. The group was founded in 1989 through the assistance of record producer Tony Brown. McBride & the Ride's first three albums — Burnin' Up the Road, the gold-certified Sacred Ground, and Hurry Sundown, released in 1991, 1992, and 1993, respectively — were all issued on MCA Nashville. These albums also produced several hits on the Billboard country charts, including the Top 5 hits "Sacred Ground", "Going Out of My Mind", "Just One Night", and "Love on the Loose, Heart on the Run".

Mark Chesnutt American singer-songwriter

Mark Nelson Chesnutt is an American country music singer and songwriter. Between 1990 and 1999, he had his greatest chart success recording for Universal Music Group Nashville's MCA and Decca branches, with a total of eight albums between those two labels. During this timespan, Chesnutt also charted twenty top-ten hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, of which eight reached number one: "Brother Jukebox", "I'll Think of Something", "It Sure Is Monday", "Almost Goodbye", "I Just Wanted You to Know", "Gonna Get a Life", "It's a Little Too Late", and a cover of Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing". His first three albums for MCA along with a 1996 Greatest Hits package issued on Decca are all certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA); 1994's What a Way to Live, also issued on Decca, is certified gold. After a self-titled album in 2002 on Columbia Records, Chesnutt has continued to record predominantly on independent labels.

Robert Andrykowski is an American country music artist who records under the name Davis Daniel. Between 1991 and 1996, he recorded three studio albums on various divisions of Mercury Records: 1991's Fighting Fire with Fire, 1994's Davis Daniel, and 1995's I Know a Place. In that same time span, seven of his singles entered the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts, including the Top 40 hits "Picture Me", "For Crying Out Loud" and "Fighting Fire with Fire."

<i>When You Get a Little Lonely</i> 1995 studio album by Maureen McCormick

When You Get a Little Lonely is the debut studio album by American actress and singer Maureen McCormick. It was released on April 4, 1995, through the label Phantom Hill. After playing Marcia Brady in the sitcom The Brady Bunch, she was offered a solo record deal in the mid-1970s but rejected the offer to attend school. McCormick had previously recorded four albums as part of The Brady Bunch and a duet album with her co-star Christopher Knight. In 1994, she signed with her brother's record label, Phantom Hill, and recorded When You Get a Little Lonely in Nashville, Tennessee and Hollywood, California. Barry Coffing was the executive producer and arranged and produced all the songs. McCormick wanted to fuse genres into the album's overall country sound.

<i>Let Me In</i> (Chely Wright album) 1997 studio album by Chely Wright

Let Me In is the third studio album by American country artist Chely Wright. The album was released on September 9, 1997 on MCA Nashville Records and was produced by Tony Brown. Let Me In was Wright's first album to chart on the Billboard Magazine album charts and also spawned her first Top 40 singles. It was also the first of three albums Wright recorded for the MCA Nashville label.

Bigger Than the Beatles single by Joe Diffie

"Bigger Than The Beatles" is a song written by Jeb Stuart Anderson and Steve Dukes, and recorded by American country music artist Joe Diffie. It was released in November 1995 as the lead single from the album, Life's So Funny. The song reached Number One on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart, becoming the fifth and final Number One single of Diffie's career. It also reached number-one on the Canadian RPM Country Tracks chart.

<i>4 Runner</i> (album) 1995 studio album by 4 Runner

4 Runner is the debut album of the American country music group 4 Runner, released in 1995 on the Nashville division of Polydor Records. It produced the singles "Cain's Blood", "A Heart with 4 Wheel Drive", "Home Alone", and "Ripples", all of which charted on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs charts. Of these four single, "Cain's Blood" was the only one to chart within the Top 40, peaking at #26.

The Beaches of Cheyenne

"The Beaches of Cheyenne" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music singer Garth Brooks. It was released in December 1995 as the third single from his album Fresh Horses. The song became Brooks's 15th Billboard Number One hit in March 1996. The song was written by Brooks, Dan Roberts and Bryan Kennedy.

Adalida song by George Strait

"Adalida" is a song recorded by American country music artist George Strait. It was released in March 1995 as the third single from his album Lead On. It peaked at number 3 in the United States, and number 2 in Canada. It was written by Mike Geiger, Woody Mullis and Michael Huffman.

Mike Henderson is an American singer-songwriter.

<i>No Love at All</i> (album) 1970 studio album by Lynn Anderson

No Love at All is a studio album by American country artist Lynn Anderson. It was released in August 1970 on Columbia Records and was produced by Glenn Sutton. No Love at All was Anderson's ninth studio recording as a music artist and the second released on the Columbia label. The album's only single, the title track, became a major hit on the Billboard country chart. The album itself also reached peak positions on a similar survey.

References

  1. 1 2 Whitburn, Joel (2008). Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008. Record Research, Inc. p. 69. ISBN   0-89820-177-2.
  2. Hurst, Jack (April 9, 1995). "Getting Personal". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved February 9, 2014.
  3. Price, Deborah Evans (March 11, 1995). "Single Reviews". Billboard . Retrieved February 9, 2014.
  4. "Stories of the Years – John Bunzow". AllMusic . Retrieved February 9, 2014.
  5. Roach, Pemberton. "Stories of the Years review". AllMusic . Retrieved February 9, 2014.
  6. Nash, Alanna (August 25, 1995). "Stories of the Years Review". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved February 9, 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 Griffith, Paul (November 2002). "John Bunzow – Liberated from the dark". No Depression . Archived from the original on August 30, 2011. Retrieved February 9, 2014.
  8. Cox, Pasti Bale (May 28, 2009). The Garth Factor: The Career Behind Country's Big Boom. Hachette Digital, Inc. ISBN   978-1-599-95275-8.
  9. 1 2 Cullivan, Rob (December 23, 2008). "Bunzow: Will play for food". Portland Tribune . Retrieved February 9, 2014.
  10. Gottlieb, Bob. "Darkness and Light review". AllMusic . Retrieved February 9, 2014.