Elliott Smith, Sleepy John Estes, Tim Hardin, Johnny Cash, Thunderegg, Woodland recordings, the Harry Smith Anthology, Charles Mingus, Robert Zimmerman, Bonnie Prince Billy
Sounds Like
"a lone urban cowboy singing his own earnest songs of
melancholy with his trusted guitar" (The Crack, Newcastle)
"nothing experimental, nothing progressive... The music Jon plays is immaculate and reduced to the necessary core. This is the acme of intimacy in music and that’s the reason I love it" (Common Folk Meadow blog)
"Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome." (Isaac Asimov)
Hiawatha Telephone Company's 'Harry Smith was my Father' is a collection of one-take demos recorded in a single five hour session at Peppercorn Studios in Brighton (UK) in January 2009.
All the songs were written by Jon over the last five or so years. Jon sings and plays his Kay nylon string guitar (now a quarter of a century old) with no over dubs, as you can tell. You can listen to the full album over at last.fm, where you can also download the songs for free. We're also on eMusic and Spotify (just search for Hiawatha Telephone Company). We're on Facebook too, so come by and say hi. Lyrics (and chords) are here.
Harry Smith was an artist and film-maker who in 1952 compiled a legendary three-volume anthology of American roots music which influenced a generation of folk singers and beyond. He died in 1991.
Hiawatha Telephone Company's Friend Space (Top 24)
Thanks for a lovely evensong! IT were greet....and the photos look aces too.
Hopefully see you soon for the open mic madness.ness. I think I might pop down to the cornerstone to see my flatmate play a slot tonight if you fancy it...homework pending of course.....
Hi Jon - yes it was a splendid evening I thought - glad you made it down. The Armenian film is called The Colour of Pomegranates by Sergei Parajanov - mesmerizing stuff.
i am glad you enjoyed my songs and great to hear that you're coming to the show with jane! i am looking forward to this evening a lot. i really like jane's music and can't wait to see her.
i see you'll be playing in berlin in next week, so i guess you're going to stay in germany for a while?
had a quick listen to your songs as well, really nice work. and i you're a friend of quite a lot musicians i am listening to (birdengine, the great park and the diamond family archive)...
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