BIOGRAPHY

John was born in Portland, Oregon in 1952 and raised in Las Vegas during the city’s formative, neon-lit years of the 1960s. His mother was a professional dancer who performed in nearly every major hotel on the Strip, immersing him early in a world of show business, artistry, and desert grit. That environment—equal parts spectacle and isolation—left a lasting imprint on both his personality and his music.

 

Music became John’s language early on. After starting on clarinet, the arrival of the Beatles and the influence of a classically trained percussionist stepfather led him to the drums. As a teenager, he thrived in Las Vegas’s original rock scene, performing with many of the city’s strongest bands. That momentum carried him to Los Angeles in the early 1970s, where he joined Batdorf & Rodney during the completion of their debut Atlantic Records album.

 

Since moving to Southern California, John has performed live and recorded with an extraordinary range of artists, including Batdorf & Rodney, Stephen Bishop, Jackson Browne (with David Lindley), Warren Zevon (with Waddy Wachtel), Danny O’Keefe, Bob Weir, Hoyt Axton, Townes Van Zandt, The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Dillards, Michelle Shocked, John Conlee, and many others. His work spans touring, recording sessions, and musical theater, the latter of which he devoted more than 15 years to—and where he met his wife, a professional dancer.

 

John’s songwriting is deeply shaped by the singer-songwriters he worked alongside, particularly Jackson Browne, Danny O’Keefe, and Hoyt Axton, though his influences are broad and eclectic. Parallel to his music career, John has spent the past 15 years working as a licensed psychotherapist. His ongoing exploration of human psychology—his own included—continues to inform his writing with uncommon emotional honesty and insight.