John Southworth (musician)

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John Southworth
Southworth at the Hillside Festival in 1998
Southworth at the Hillside Festival in 1998
Background information
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter
Years active1996–present

John Southworth is an English-Canadian singer-songwriter, performer, author and videomaker. He performs a diverse range of popular and peculiar song genres, from AM oldies-radio to traditional folk balladry, 80s pop to art song and cabaret.[1]

History[]

Southworth's orchestral debut record Mars Pennsylvania was released on Bar None Records in 1998.

He has since released a number of cross-genre albums on small labels, each stylistically varied from the other, including Sedona Arizona (1999), Banff Springs Transylvania (2000 featuring Mary Margaret O'Hara), Yosemite (2005), The Pillowmaker (2007) (performed with his longtime band The South Seas, featuring members from Toronto's avant-jazz-improv community) and Mama Tevatron (2009). The South Seas also backed John on the elegiac Human Cry (2010) reissued on UK label Tin Angel Records in August 2018.

In 2011 Southworth released Spiritual War Cassette Tape, recorded in part on a Sony Cassette Corder Model TCM-939. The following year he debuted the surreal cabaret song cycle Easterween featuring arrangements by Toronto arranger Andrew Downing at the Lower Ossington Theatre in Toronto. A collection of actual rejected jingles appeared later in the same year on Failed Jingles for Bank of America & other U.S. Corporations (2012).[2]

In July 2014 it was announced that Southworth would be releasing a double record on Tin Angel Records called Niagara, featuring nine songs on the Canadian side and eleven on the American side. Co-produced by Jean Martin (a drummer and percussionist known for his work with Tanya Tagaq) and again featuring The South Seas, Niagara was named Album of the Year 2014 by Rolling Stone Germany and Canada's National Post.[3] On September 2, 2016, Small Town Water Tower LP was announced, set for an October release.[4] The LP Miracle in the Night was released May 3, 2019.[5]

Southworth's songs have been covered by or written for such Canadian artists as Sarah Slean, Buck 65, Hawksley Workman, Jully Black, Martin Tielli and Veda Hille.

Daydreams For Night, an alternative children's book featuring illustrations by David Ouimet, was published by Azuka in Japan and Simply Read in 2015. [6]

A former film student, he directs his own videos.

He is the son of Peter Shelley, the British 1970s pop singer and songwriter, later a producer and record executive.[7]

Discography[]

  • Rialto (2021)
  • Miracle In The Night (2019)
  • Small Town Water Tower (2016)
  • Niagara (2014)
  • Failed Jingles for Bank of America & other U.S Corporations (2012)
  • West Coast Persona (EP 1998 & 2012)
  • Easterween (with Andrew Downing 2012)
  • SPIRITUAL WAR cassette tape (2011)
  • Human Cry (2010)
  • Mama Tevatron (2009)
  • The Pillowmaker (2006)
  • Yosemite (2005)
  • Rose Milk Appalachia (EP 2001)
  • Banff Springs Transylvania (2000)
  • Sedona Arizona (1999)
  • Mars Pennsylvania (1997)

References[]

  1. ^ "Good Ol'-Timey Sweetness: John Southworth takes up residence at Pianos", New York Press. Retrieved December 2, 2010.
  2. ^ "An Anti-Record of Artful Pop Music". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2013-01-04.
  3. ^ "Top 2,104 Things of 2014: The best 2014 album is one you've never heard of | National Post". News.nationalpost.com. Retrieved 2017-03-12.
  4. ^ "John Southworth – "Second Childhood"". Stereogum. 2016-09-02. Retrieved 2017-03-12.
  5. ^ "Premiere: John Southworth - 'I Loved My Girl'". john southworth. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  6. ^ "Book Review / Daydreams for Night by John Southworth". Writing NSW |access-date=2015-07-15}}
  7. ^ "John Southworth â€" Bar/None Records". Bar-none.com. Retrieved 2017-03-12.

External links[]

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