JOHNNY BONNEVILLE
Biography
Johnny Bonneville
“The Traveling Man”, “The Storyteller”, “The Entertainer”, “The Busker”; Johnny Bonneville has had more than 25 years of experience doing almost every job you could think of in music. So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that an entertainer inside him yearns to sing. He started out as a punk rocker and political activist years ago before writing his first songs for “The Burning Spirit” (circa 1990’s). Then Johnny turned thirty and decided to trade his job and college for a nomadic journey across the United States, this is when he developed the character of his entertaining personality today. Eventually he settled down in Berkeley California and became a street performer / open mike musician. Besides playing music and travelin’, Mother Nature has always been one thing Johnny keeps close to heart and many of his songs reflect upon this theme.
The Duet Perform
Until recently Johnny performed as a Guitar And Violin Duet with his partner Fiddlin’ Phil Swaby. But don't be fooled they rocked with the hardest. The performances and recordings blended a tasty gumbo of traditional musical ideas recognized as “Freeform Roots”. This began at a dinner party several years ago when Johnny pulled out a classical guitar and asked Phil how to compose a recently collected American folklore arrangement. The energy and ideas soon became lucrative when they began to perform weekly and write original songs. After more than a year of weekly gigs, the duet decided to make a studio recording of the music they had been performing.
This would take more than a year of mixing and mastering before a 12 song CD titled “Songs About Devils, Farms, and Trains" was self-published. Meanwhile Phil compiled seven tracks from the scratch recordings at local performances and released a novelty CD of B-sides called “Live At The Grog & Tankard”.
Other projects include:
“A TRIBUTE TO HUDDIE LEADBETTER (LEADBELLY)”. Released in 2006, this 22-Minute DVD captures Johnny & Phil’s historically true folktale of the legendary Louisiana convict, Huddie Leadbetter, who gained his freedom and became a national treasure thanks to one man, named Allen Lomax.
“JOHNNY BONNEVILLE & FIDDLIN’ PHIL SWABY LIVE AT THE NATIONAL ZOO” Recorded in 2004 at the National Zoofari Elephant Romp this DVD is finally being released.
“TROUBLE DON’T SPELL THE BLUES” Currently Johnny is performing a new collection of songs at small venues and hopes these performances will lead to a full length recording later on this year.
“LOOSE NOTES” A new collection of Folk songs recorded at The New Deal Café and College Perk By Johnny Bonneville and Fiddlin’ Phil Swaby. This recording is scheduled for release in 2009.
“OUTTA CONTROL” Johnny Bonneville’s Punk Rock Recording! 12 songs written and performed by Johnny Bonneville. The concept comes from the song “Penny Lane” by the Beatles. Johnny wrote twelve songs about his own “Penny Lane”, the neighborhood of Tenley Circle in upper NW Washington DC.
In conclusion, Johnny is looking forward to performing at your venue and making people happy through music.
Johnny Bonneville on-line resources
www.johnnybonneville.com
www.geocities.com/johnnybonneville
www.myspace.com/johnnybonneville
For booking info and press interviews call 202-286-5586
