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An accomplished and critically acclaimed California-based singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, John McGaraghan has been playing original music for nearly twenty years, both as a solo act and with various ensembles, including San Francisco Americana roots rock icon King Harvest and San Diego's premeire psychedelic bluegrass rock band Oversoul (several of whose former members later formed jamgrass sensation Hot Buttered Rum). As the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter for Oversoul, John's songs have been praised as "vibrant, expansive sounds...featur[ing] splendid lead guitar work and absolutely breathtaking vocals" by Relix Magazine (Vol. 25, no. 3; pg. 64). After Oversoul's breakup in July of 1997, John began concentrating on solo performance, playing an engaging and unique blend of folk, country/bluegrass, pop and rock. In 1999, John co-founded King Harvest in San Francisco, contributing acoustic, electric, and steel guitars, mandolin, vocals and songwriting to the Americana rock and roll outfit. After leaving King Harvest in September of 2001, John moved back to San Diego where he performed solo and with a variety of small combos. Most recently, John has made yet another swing up the west coast, relocating to Berkeley, CA in the San Francisco Bay Area, and continues to write, play, and record as a solo artist. He also appears from time to time with his brother Mike's band, The Skinny, playing mandolin, dobro, guitar, and singing.

John's slant on acoustic songwriting revitalizes the classic sound of Americana music, and provides listeners with lyrics that go straight to the heart and mind and melodies that stir the soul. A combination of energy and intensity with simplicity and harmony helps John's songs acheive a transcendence of traditional musical boundaries, and a nearly universal appeal. Drawing on varied influences such as bluegrass greats Bill Monroe, Doc Watson, and David Grisman, folk artists such as Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and James Taylor, alternative country pioneers like Lucinda Williams, Wilco, and Richard Buckner, as well as experimentalists including the Grateful Dead, Phish, and Zero, John crafts songs that run the stylistic gamut yet retain a consistent identity.

John's arsenal of instrumental abilities can be heard shining through on a host of recordings and performance associations, from countrified rock riffs and table steel guitar textures with King Harvest, to blistering rock guitar solos and acoustic country/bluegrass picking in Oversoul, to slinky lap steel sessions with San Diego's Pure Noodle, to singing and playing backup for groove and pop songs with the Redwood Project, to masterful acoustic guitar arrangements, shimmering mandolin, smooth keyboards, and heartwrenching vocals on his own solo recordings. Along the way this diverse set of talents has led John to share the stage with such artists as Lucinda Williams, Fishbone, Elvin Bishop, Train, Merl Saunders, Vince Welnick, eastmountainsouth, 311, The Untouchables, Zero, The Greyboy Allstars, Stroke 9, Ekhoostik Hookah, Pete and Alejandro Escovedo, Jambay, Hot Buttered Rum, Calobo, Bill Magee, Tea Leaf Green, New Monsoon, Jeff Berkley, Podunk Nowhere, Matt Curreri, The Seventh Day Buskers, The B-Side Players, Clyde's Ride, and Pure Noodle.