JOHN WASHBURN 

John Washburn describes his music as “twangy rock ‘n roll,” a fitting blend for someone raised in the genteel Berkeley, CA of the 1970s but who relocated to NYC in the ‘90s because it was “wonderfully dark and seedy.”  

Washburn’s songs reflect this cross-country heritage, a blend of a ravaged soul and a soothed psyche.  “My songs tend to draw on American popular vernacular,” he says, “because it’s a kind of common ground where all my inner demons can get together and hang out a little.” 

Born to a fine artist father (a published novelist), and a politico mother, the Washburn house seemed constantly to be filled with inventiveness and debate.  “Being creative always seemed to be a natural choice,” he recalls.  “With our upbringing, there was little chance that my sister or I would end up as an accountant.” 

The odd mix of Woody Guthrie and “baroque moralistic songs” taught at his elementary school made little sense to him but when, at seven, Washburn saw Beatle George Harrison in “Help” playing a guitar solo surrounded by beautiful girls in the Bahamas, he decided that was what he wanted to do.  “[George] clearly had the ideal job,” says Washburn.  His parents had always encouraged Washburn’s artistic leanings. When he was 14, they bought their son a red electric guitar and amp, and paid for lessons.  He started writing songs almost immediately, finding that less challenging that learning covers.

 After playing guitar in various San Francisco teen bands during high school, Washburn went to college in New York. “The East Village had a great vibe at the time,” he recalls.  He joined a band via a Village Voice ad, recorded an EP and became a frequent sight at CBGB’s.

 Upon graduation, he founded the alternative rock combo Clara Venus, who recorded a full length CD, toured the East Coast, and showcased at CMJ.  Washburn stayed with them until the summer of 1999.  

“I didn’t want to make angry music anymore,” he says, “and I wanted to take control of my own career.” 

 Washburn began writing new material and performing solo at open mike nights around NYC.  He recently recorded his solo debut,  Stumbling Still Warm... for indie label, Wayward Records, which has gotten a very favorable response from both the public and the critics 

Produced by Richard Goldstein (Marshall Crenshaw, Laura Nyro, John Prine), the CD showcases ten Washburn originals.   “One thing that was really important to me going into make this record, was that I did not want to get into using all the computers and digital editing which is fashionable right now. I wanted to make an old-fashioned kind of record,” he says.   

 The songs on Stumbling Still Warm... were written over the course of two years, along with nearly a dozen that did not make the album.  Washburn performed them all live until he honed in on those which he ultimately chose to record. 

Washburn explained that the CD’s title is actually a lyric lifted from the closing song, “Half My Life,” inspired by an experience in a thrift store in Biloxi, MS.  

“I noticed this really pretty girl with her mother trying on wedding dresses and checking herself out in the convex security mirror.  I kept thinking that this could not possibly have been how she always had imagined that special moment in her life would be.  That song is about managing the disappointments in life and handling life’s little curve balls.” 

 “It’s Alright” opens the CD with the line –– “Every night I wake up scared of promises...” –– which Washburn says is “basically about conflict in relationships and the importance of working through it.”

  “Sleep” was sparked by his girlfriend’s request that he write her a lullaby, but ended up as a song of reassurance and dedication.  Meanwhile, “She’s A Lullaby” details his girlfriend going through a particularly rough period.  “She woke up one morning saying she had this series of little fragmentary dreams, which inspired the opening line ‘She dreams in haikus’,” he explains.  Although many of the songs on this album talk about dreams, dreaming, or just waking up from dreaming, Washburn confides that – “In my daily life, I’m not all that interested in dreams, so I’m not sure where that comes from.” 

Washburn says he is not really interested in writing “message songs,” opting to write songs as “narrative short stories.”   His goal is “to present a little slice of life, images that evoke some aspect of our lives, some little piece that resonates and makes you say, ‘Oh, I know that feeling!’”

                      He succeeds in that goal with his first aural epic Stumbling Still Warm...

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